Ecstasy / Light / Inertia Review

[Michael {United Critics}]

This review was made based on my experience playing on a Ryzen 7 7700x, 32GBs of ram and a RX 6800 xt, be mindful that my experience can differ from yours depending on the hardware.


Ecstasy / Light / Inertia (E/L/I) is one of those “experiences” that are “experiences” first and “games” later. If I had to put this game inside a popular genre, I think “walking simulator” would suit it best… Now, if you asked me how to describe (E/L/I) I would say “venting simulator”, mostly because this game is all about hearing the main character vent (or if you want to be generous, “share”) about her life experiences and how deep and complex the metaphors of the world around her are. I don’t want to hate on this game because it’s made by a single person and it’s free to download. But I really disliked almost everything about (E/L/I)... especially how the game doesn’t allow you to think and the protagonist constantly tells you what everything means and how you are supposed to feel.

Sure, it’s a short experience and the fact that it was made by a single person is quite impressive. I’m sure that someone might have an eye-opening experience with this game, like most players who left a positive review on its steam page. But for me it is just an optimized small game, with excellent voice acting, annoying writing and interesting music. I would have enjoyed it more if the protagonist didn’t talk that much. I would even dare to ignore the fact that it doesn’t have any checkpoints or save file system, since you are supposed to finish the game on one sitting. It’s a mercifully short experience with a couple of endings but… I couldn't do it. I disliked how patronizing the game is, explaining everything and not letting you think on your own. I like games about philosophy that challenge me to think, I like games that don’t give me all the answers. This… is a game where the most enjoyable thing that I found was discovering that the main character runs like Shaggy from the 60’s Scooby Doo cartoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxjLHMJIIU

Ecstasy / Light / Inertia is not the worst thing that I have ever played… but it’s easily my most disliked game off the top of my head.

Rating: 4/10
Not particularly bad… but it’s not particularly good either.

Reviewer: Nova