Adventure Gamers - Forums

Adventure Gamers seems to have missed Moondrop’s Amphora. It’s not exactly an adventure game but it has some amusing puzzles and it looks wonderful.

I think the first half of the game has the nicest puzzles. And also just the type of tasks that we’re supposed to figure out and accomplish was amusing by itself.

It does verge on being ridiculous at times (kind of like von Trier’s movies) but the good outweighs the bad (yes, kind of like some von Trier’s movies).

We didn’t miss it. A review is coming.

Thanks for the pointer, I’ve just finished playing Limbo . It’s hard to compare it to Amphora because Limbo is a puzzle-platformer similar to Papo & Yo or A Tale of Two Sons. However those two are nowhere near as frustrating as Limbo. Maybe also similar to Contrast, which I haven’t played yet. Amphora is more similar to Lilly Looking Through in terms of gameplay (both distant relatives of Gobliiins).

The physics in Amphora is centered on the ragdoll simulation (though it doesn’t add that much to the gameplay) and attaching objects to one another. Adding chains works as a symbolic indicator of creating a connection. Later in the game there is another kind of chain which has a restitution force and so is able to push objects as well. That one was kind of strange. There are also more standard things like water, collisions, the ability to push objects.

The review did not give much indication about the tone of the game. For those who have played - is it dark or upsetting at all? Appropriate for children? It’s hard to tell from the graphics, the story sounds nice but you never know.

lancelot - 31 January 2015 04:21 PM

I think the first half of the game has the nicest puzzles.

Thank god I didn’t continue. I had to abandon the game a third of the way through. Puzzles like positioning vases inch by inch to direct musical notes to exactly the right place were some of the most frustrating I’ve come across. Once you’ve figured out what you need to do, you shouldn’t need to spend hours arranging items to get it perfect, but that’s exactly what Amphora makes you do. It’s like the Incredible Machine except a million times more infuriating.

Nice art, bad game. Play Gobliiins instead.