Gameplay
In Proteus you explore an island in which trees, hills, and a small scattering of animals make up the sights and the sounds. Don’t go into it expecting to shoot anyone. It’s not that kind of game. Nor is it the kind of game with jumping sequences, physics puzzles, dialogue trees or loot drops.
There are just four keys to navigate and the mouse to look around as you move. You cannot pick objects, or solve puzzles, Proteus is all about observation.Its sort of like a Minecraft without the crafting.
Proteus is first and foremost a game about relaxation and appreciating the small things in life. You’ll watch as day shifts to night and spring turns to summer, that arriving in certain locations at the right times will trigger some of the game’s strangest sights.
The whole experience doesn’t last for more than hour but with a new playthrough you’ll discover events and images that you didn’t see or thought could happen, which adds an extra dimension of intrigue that gives Proteus some replaybility points.
Writing too much more about a short game like Proteus would spoil it some of the game’s attractions which deserve to be discovered fresh by each player. We feel however that in order to let Proteus grow in you must give a bit of yourself to it. If you don’t manage to create your own story in the game then there is a chance that you’ll find no point in it.
There were times that we thought we were the only living human in earth in desperate search of life, and others that we that we are trapped in a deserted island and it’s probably for so long that we lost the track of time.
Conclusion
As a piece of visualised fiction, Proteus is a wonderful thing, but judged purely as a video game it has obvious shortcomings. Technically they’re not wrong. There’s no challenge, no overt goal, no secret to uncover, nor story to hear.
We however recommend that you give it a chance; whether or not you relate to it in the end, it will have been worth the experience. The game is more an interactive exhibit, rewarding you for attentive observation and approaching its unique make-up with an open mind.
If you do connect with it, Proteus might can change your perspective on what someone working in the context of videogames, using game design and development techniques can create, and the question if this should even be classified as a game will slowly fade the more hours you sink into this adventure.
You can purchase Proteus now for 6,99€ from Steam.
Gameconnect Rating: 8.5
