The Therapist Gamer

Ether One

Ether One is primarily an exploration game with a similar feel to the classic point-and-click style games from the 90s.  You begin the game in a futuristic business that specializes in helping people restore their memories.  This technology is used for a variety of reasons, but it's often to treat Dementia.  You sit in a special chair and then visit various places from someone's memory.

 

Much of the game involves exploring environments void of any people.  This makes for a unique gameplay experience, but I thought it was a little strange - I wondered if the game developers just couldn't create good in-game characters.  You discover aspects of the story as you progress, and it's fair to say that the story is the main attraction of the whole game.  And on that front I thought it did pretty well.  I think each person would have a different reaction to the story, but I found it much more thoughtful and meaningful than those found in most games.  It's one of those stories where you are kept in the dark somewhat all throughout the game, but at the end it all makes sense.

 

Some of the puzzles in the game were, in my opinion, fairly obscure and stalled the game progression for me.  They weren't as absurd as the puzzles in Myst, but you have to have good attention to detail to work out some of them.  Many of the puzzles are optional, though, so tricky puzzles don't slow things down too much.

 

Personally I wasn't too enamored with the graphics, but they aren't bad.  I thought the art style of the game was better than the graphics themselves, and each environment is fleshed out pretty well.  

 

All in all, I liked Ether One.  The gameplay wasn't totally my thing, but there were other factors that pulled me along.  If you're interested in a calm, thoughtful game with a decent story, give it a try.