Etherborn | Hands-on Preview

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We recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with a pre-release PC build of Etherborn, the gravity-defying puzzle platformer being developed by Altered Matter. After spending around an hour with the game’s first three levels, it seems clear that this upstart studio of four are destined for big things.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam

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Heading in we were told to “rethink what you know of gravity”, which was apt, as Etherborn’s head-scratching traversal sees you wind your way over, under and around its stages. Smooth corner transitions - which stand out against harsh, 90° angles - communicate pathways which can allow you to wander across impossibly shear surfaces.

That might sound complex, and it is, to an extent, but the game’s dynamic camera lends a fluid feel to proceedings by tracking your movements closely. Controlling your perspective allows for maintaining your equilibrium, ensuring the world always makes sense in the context you’re shown, despite the fact you may not know which way is up. (In fact, the very idea of 'up' can become a foreign concept.)
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At the same time, this is where an element of danger enters the equation. There were no enemies or combat encounters during the vertical slice we played, but misjudging your bearings and overstepping the edge of a levitating level without a platform to break your immediate fall (is it still a fall when you’re shooting upwards, or off horizontally?) will lead to you disappearing into the yawning horizon of any given direction.

You’ll always return to a nearby checkpoint, mind, encouraging experimentation within the unconventional physics playgrounds that are Etherborn’s self-contained stages. More conventional is the gated progression, whereby you’ll need to place key items on pedestals in order to transform the shifting environments and accommodate pressing onwards; you will at least need to double back and re-utilise them in different places on occasion, which is an added wrinkle to consider.

While no real cause for concern, considering we’re judging based on the introductory stages alone, so far Etherborn relies solely on reiterating this structure in increasingly complex ways. It does so very well, coaxing you deeper into what feels like a warmer take on the works of M.C. Escher, but nonetheless we do hope that new mechanics are introduced over time.

We’re equally intrigued to see how things are set to progress from a narrative standpoint, as it’s all quite vague and introspect at the moment, whilst feeling as though it’s probably building towards a deeper meaning.

Your avatar is a completely blank slate, a voiceless humanoid appearing as though a sentient x-ray and lacking any clear motivation. The direct address of a disembodied narrator presumably begins to fill that in, but what’s most enticing is the gentle swirl of this dulcet female voice. Experienced in a dark room with a decent pair of headphones, the sound swishes around your head and the minimalist visuals soothe in an almost meditative fashion, which is a state perfectly conducive to switching off the logical parts of your brain to better comprehend the game’s unbound, geographic puzzles.

Consider the sweeping soundtrack - comprised of twinkling chimes and mellow organ bellows, cut through by dreamy vocalisation, percussion and strings - and you have a package which, true to its name, is healthy with an almost ethereal glow.

Etherborn stylishly ebbs and flows it’s way through the early stages, so do keep an eye out for its arrival on Steam, PS4, Xbox One and Switch this spring.