“The truth is out there. Somewhere.”
A sci-fi puzzle game riddled in mystery, Filament, by developer Beard Envy and publisher Kasedo Games and KalypsoMediaGroup, previously available on the PC, becomes available on the Nintendo Switch today, October 8th.
Drifting through space, you find a spaceship that’s somehow absent of any lifeforms, yet has a trapped navigator in the cockpit. You travel around the immense vessel with the navigator, Juniper, chatting you up, giving you glimpses into the foggy past of the missing crew.
The puzzles come in the unique form of lighting up the dark. No, it is not as easy as it sounds, and yes, it is as beautiful as it implies. I believe it’s meant to represent hacking into the systems called Anchors the crew set up (which you find out why they did so in the game) as you go through various levels to wrap columns in a wire with a small robot. You may not cross your own wire, so tread with purpose. There is no punishment for a misstep, though. You may keep attempting the level as much as possible.
There are several types of hacking you go through. Basic pillars, negating pillars, colorful pillars, balancing colors, and many more. My personal favorite were the constellation-like puzzles:
Each level of Filament could have one to five levels, and after the completion of each stage, Juniper pipes up again to provide another chapter of the crew’s story. However, the sense that something is amiss is ever-present. To fill in the blanks, all over the ship are archives that allow you to access the conversations of the crew, who are each named a color. By piecing together the separate conversations between Vermillion, Juniper, Marmalade, Canary, Pistachio, and Aubergine, you realize the dynamics of the crew aren’t always peaceful, and what they went through was… unexpected.
Not to mention their off-ship captain, Swan.
I must give props to the composer, as the ambient music is beautiful. Relaxing, cosmic, yet offers a trace of distrust. I am not sure how they did it, but it is brilliant.
Gameplay does not extend beyond clamoring around the ship looking for dozens of these anchors to complete and reading the crewmember’s logs. However, the variety of the puzzles in Filament never keeps you wanting for more, although you might grow frustrated with yourself when you get stuck on the puzzle for the tenth time. Do not fret– the game does have a hint system, although I would say it’s not the most helpful all the time, considering the various angles one can tackle a problem. I’m also not entirely sure if there is even one single way to solve a level.
If you manage to get to the ending, you’ll be surprised, and perhaps like me, extremely confused with the ending. While off-putting that I did not understand it, the journey was well spent and pleasant.
Elegant in its simplicity, intriguing in its story, and challenging in its puzzles, Filament is 100% worth a play through.
End score: 10/10
Check Out the Filament Nintendo Switch Trailer:
Filament is now available via the Nintendo Switch eShop and also via Steam. For more information, please visit: https://www.kasedogames.com/filament
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Nintendo Switch Review
I'm Zepora, a junior at UC Berkeley studying Economics. I grew up attached to my Game Boy playing the Pokémon games, but now I turn to my consoles as break from school work when I'm not busy with lacrosse. I prefer RPG's with a some action, such as Elder Scrolls and Assassin's Creed (which is my favorite franchise) but am also known to play Super Smash Bros until 3am with my friends.
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