Vesper Critic Reviews

At a first glance you might think Vesper is something like Limbo with robots, but it's actually a great puzzle platformer with a bit of stealth. Thanks to the generous amount of checkpoints, it can be played as a casual game, a couple of screen at a time, or trying to beat the best time in a speed run, thanks to the embedded stopwatch allowing you to record and publish your game sessions without further editing. Great graphics and sound, with a gentle difficulty curve balanced by achievements not that easy to unlock. A debut with a bang for the guys from Cordens Interactive, who were able to mix a compelling story with a great gameplay.

Vesper is a charming and smart platform, with lots of good ideas and a stunning design.

Vesper is a little gem. On an old-fashioned (but functional) gameplay Cordens Interactive builds a work of art with great authorial value. Simple but effective puzzles and a well-constructed environmental storytelling pair with stunning art design and great sound design. Sadly stealth and puzzles are both a little too simple: it never deepens its mechanics. Knowing you don't have to expect a challenging game, it's one of the few, beautiful, Italian productions. And that's enough. Highly recommended.

Vesper is a truly peculiar 2D transition adventure that encompasses its strength in simplicity and artistic achievement. Accompanying the little Seven on this introspective adventure is undoubtedly exciting and enjoyable.

Vesper is a highly impressive indie platformer. Its stunning visuals and mysterious game world will likely immediately hook the player, while its gameplay hits a sweet spot that will maintain that interest throughout its short runtime. It may sometimes go into comfortable spaces seen by other games in the genre, but even so there's more than enough flair here to make Vesper worthwhile.

Don't be fooled by the reduced duration of Seven's adventure: after the finale you will be delighted by numerous additions during the second game, and the new awareness gained in the course of exploring Aryish could push you to renew your approach, looking for other avenues. The narration will satisfy the fans of Isaac Asimov's great science fiction, with suggestions of a religious nature that recall the works of Roger Zelazny and Philip Kindred Dick; the possibilities for in-depth analysis offered by the documents then recall works such as The Talos Principle (2014). There remain some small regrets: we would have liked a greater characterization of the inhabitants, robotic and otherwise, of the planet Aryish, and on some occasions the lack of variety of enemies leaves room for a small dose of monotony. Vesper, however, remains a star that shines bright in the sky of Italian videogame development, and which we recommend without reservation.

Contemplative, smart and well design, Vesper is not perfect but will leave you in awe with its art direction and refinement.

Vesper is full of redundant screens that you simply run across, which made the campaign longer but at the cost of watering down the gameplay. In theory, complexity of challenges rises due to introduction of time limits, increasing number of robots and longer escape sequences, but I completed most of the game almost with my eyes closed. It’s a beautiful, atmospheric adventure, but it would definitely benefit from being a bit harder.

It's a truly beautiful game to look at, but with slow pacing and puzzles that never really hit the mark it's hard to recommend Vesper.

Vesper is a minimalist game that doesn´t stand out from the crowd of similar titles. On the other hand, it is not bad at all. It is an honest game with attractive visuals and good gameplay. Nothing more, nothing less.