VANE Review for PlayStation 4

“Everyone loves a game that literally puts you to sleep” — No one, ever.

Oh VANE, where do I start? This, I don’t even know what kind of game to call it, is—without any shred of doubt—insanely unimpressive. Call me unenlightened, but agonizingly flying—no—crawling through the sky from weather vane to weather vane does not a game make.

The opening scene is dynamite, and that is why this is so depressing. Immediately we are thrust into this aggressively ominous, downright chilling town, as it literally collapses around you. I was covered in goosebumps, ready to navigate through a dystopian disaster. It’s sharp, angular, evocative, and an all around visceral experience. Nothing is explained, nothing makes sense, what are we even supposed to do? And just as your blood vessels start constricting and that grin of anticipation paints across your face, surprise! You are now a bird, flying through a vast wasteland of nothing.

Think The Last Guardian—same clunky controls, buggy gameplay, but without the touching relationship between a boy and a creature, or a story. There is just nothing about this game that gives you incentive to keep going.

Fly around for a while, a long while, scanning the terrain beneath you, patience draining by the minute, for something to do. Let me save you some time if you really feel the need to play this. To get started with some purpose, look for glimmers of light and fly toward them. It will take you a while, this bird is in no hurry. You can flap your wings to somewhat increase speed, at the consequence of flying upward into the nothingness above. Get to the weather vanes, press the triangle button to send a squawky signal to your avian comrades to assist in changing the direction of the vane. Then fly around until you find another. But let the buyer beware—the shining glints will continue to lure you towards them, despite the fact that you’ve already done your duty.

You do play as the kid from time to time, but that is really the only variety to an otherwise flavorless game.

I am all for games that make you think, but VANE is the spiritual equivalent of being handed a broken power drill and missing the memo that you’re supposed to build a house with it.

Graphically, it has its merits, but beyond that, it is a frantic grasping of straws to think of anything positive to say.

Rating: Not Recommended

Take a Look at the Vane Trailer: