Exo One....

I'd not seen or heard of the game before glimpsing it on the Xbox app as I was looking to install PowerWash Simulator(which I did). Exo One(also on Steam) from the promo screenshots reminded me of two things; The Flight of the Navigator movie for the ship morphing/flying and a C64 game Cosmic Causeway because a player as a ball trying to avoid stuff isn't common.

Exo One is 'one of those games', that tells you little, leaves a lot to player interpretation and is all about the 'Journey'. I've waffled about games like this when I posted about playing Journey(the game), here and here; And others in the same genre(Abzu, Skye. Alpha Planet, The Artful Escape) that I've grown to give time to. With this game also linking into my liking of Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes; Yea a game wide open to a lot of player interpretation and not just for the 'story'. 

Two planets that I liked 'doing':

 Darwin III

 Obias III

A Casual Carebear Gamer

While I played it on PC(Xbox Ultimate gamepass) the achievements are still linked. I'm always interested in the stats. 

10.30% of players completed the game with 6.83% doing it under 3 hours(2 hours and 54 minutes for me.. Taking my time).

There were two 'hard' parts to the game for me. One being a planet(Sojournus XXIII) where you've lost all powers and abilities except one and it's not a fun one to use(nose dive into ground). I'd say a lot of players got peeved at it. I almost did but with persistence I got going and then the game helped me, lightning strikes to allow power to fly; I'm sure it was a game design deliberate choice to move players on. The other is just as awkward as your in actual outer space(Coronides); I could not master the sun aurora glide so had to slow boat as a ball in space....

These things happen. The wanting to know more was motivation enough to keep going.

Even a few days after finishing the game I'm not sure what was really happening and the sequence they were supposed to be in. A Jupiter mission leads to disaster but in your travelling your able to alter actions and save the crew which includes yourself. Or at least I think that's what 'is'. After you and your crew are home your character is a loner when an alien signal is picked up and your given a chance to pilot the 'device' from that signal's data(all very Contact-esque).... So it's like a temporal paradox, you save you by putting yourself in the position to be able to save yourself...... Yea it's all Twilight Zone and Outer Limits territory. You save yourself and the crew but in doing so your still out there..... Bit like the ending of Quantum Leap.

 

I've no issues with the game, the story or the ending. It's supposed to be mysterious.... It's supposed to be about the journey. I really like the graphics and the physics of it all. I'm not sure I'll ever play it again, some things are best left unknown. Hunting for answers may not be the best thing to do with the game.