Pixeljunk Eden

 
Developer: Q-Games. Ltd
Steam Release: Feb 2012
Hours Played: 6.0
Similar To: Gravity Ghost / The King's Bird / Remnants of Naezith
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
Although there is a little time-pressure involved, Pixeljunk Eden is a calming and relaxing zen-like game that has you controlling a small maggot-type creature who leaps and swings about the place to get ever higher. You begin the game by controlling your tiny, squidgy little worm in a world that has sprouting plants, floating seeds and spores. You can only either jump or swing around while attached to a thin thread but you may also control your movement to a small degree while flying through the air. The object of the game is to find and land on a glowing spectra positioned somewhere above you. There is no radar to locate its whereabouts so you keep leaping higher exploring the upper areas until you find it. There are five spectras per garden but more on that later.


BALANCE & PACE
To assist you in this endeavour you pass over small, floating symbols that act as spores that gravitate towards and pollinate nearby glowing seeds. These seeds then sprout flowering stems that stretch upwards and which you can then leap onto in your quest to reach the elusive spectra. Beware though as there is a time limit which is indicated by a meter in the bottom left hand side. Thankfully though, you can increase and top-up this meter by collecting special pods that float around randomly. The fun comes in watching the spores glisten and sparkle as you pass over them, exploring new areas, making accurate leaps and in the satisfaction of finally reaching that glowing spectra.



PRESENTATION & DESIGN
In the early game, two basic colours are used. There are no real textures or great detail to the environment as its generally formed by blobs and simple patterns. It's the thumping, trance-like soundtrack that really adds substance and gives the game its oomph. Without this, the game would be a pretty dull and routine affair. Exploration is the name of the game and this is needed at the start screen where you figure out what's what. Your worm-like creature is the cursor but you control it in the same way in which you play the game so you have to leap about and land on the pentagon-shaped objects to enter the gardens. A little artsy-fartsy for some perhaps but no problem. While on a pentagon, you may view your score and rankings for that garden.


PROGRESS SYSTEM
There is a score in Pixeljunk Eden and a host of stats shown after landing on the spectra but this seems to be of secondary importance and for hardcore gamers only. For me, it's a game to chill out to and to relax with over a glass of wine but the stats are there for those who need it. Number of spectras collected seems to be the most important thing to keep track of and the game regularly keeps you reminded of this. There are 75 to collect in total so with each garden having five spectras, as I haven't yet finished the game, I'm assuming there are 15 gardens in total. The start-screen also keeps track of this with the sides of the garden's pentagon shaded to show the spectra has been found.

CONCLUSION
Pixeljunk Eden is a quirky and arty game that is not exactly aimed at the teenage hardcore gaming market. As such, it rather goes for the more mature, discernible crowd who want to try something a little different. There is a little time-pressure, for sure, so it does have a little edge to it but it still manages to retain its quality of being a relaxing game for those who generally like to slow down and feel calm at the computer rather than rushed or panicked. Its soundtrack also doubles as pretty good unobtrusive background music.