These thoughts were originally written 2/9/2024.
I finished NaissanceE today. It is a surrealist walking simulator puzzle game similar to other games of this genre, like Antichamber and Manifold Garden. I'll start by saying that I enjoyed the experience of this game, but I didn't always enjoy playing it.
What sets NaissanceE apart from its contemporaries is that this is the only game of this genre in which I've actually felt like I'm exploring a place real to someone or something and that I, as the player, do not belong in. To further emphasize that feeling of being in a truly foreign place, the game, at times, is quite hostile towards the player. I don't want to go into many details about how it precisely does this. Still, the game will generally misdirect you, the lighting will be oppressive through effects and brightness, the level design can be maze-like, and puzzle solutions can be very obscure.
My most significant gripe with the game is that the first-person platforming is not fun. It's artificially difficult due to the perspective and character controller and made intentionally difficult with the level design and lighting. There are better mixes for delivering an enjoyable and fair game. Still, potentially, that's part of the point of the experience's design. But you can only push this mentality so far before the experience bleeds out of the game, and you make the player want to put it down; this doesn't even touch on the factors of accessibility and how this game is probably unplayable at times to many photo-sensitive people.
I also want to point out the level architecture and soundtrack of NaissanceE. Both are amazing and made every second of this game worth the time. It isn't easy to describe how beautiful the brutalist architecture in this game is, and the soundtrack perfectly complements and elevates the exploration of it.
The game is free on Steam, and if you like this genre, it's worth checking out. It's only 5-6 hours in length.
P.S. I had just heard of this game a few days ago. I found it from this video essay on the concept of meaningless infinities in media. https://youtu.be/Sd0tB3tR3yQ?si=dEVpKCX1BoJMbn5K