Exo One Review

Exo One is an experience you won’t soon forget, and one you’ll want to remember. Developer Exbleative has been working on Exo One for years, and it’s finally released. This is described as an “interplanetary, gravity-defying journey through space and time.” And I was not ready for this endeavor. It constantly showed me things I wouldn’t have imagined, and allowed me to do things I couldn’t have dreamt of. Exo One is relaxation met with interactivity in otherworldly places that unmatched for this style of game, earning your attention.

Opening with some story beats to get you intrigued, you’ll soon be behind the back of a sphere, rolling across a planet’s surface. The game doesn’t explain too much, but you can tell that it’s alien in origin. As new mechanics and systems are introduced, more questions about this spherical vehicle are asked without answers. There’s a strong sense of exploration with the wide-open landscape going on for miles in any direction. You’ll be taught how this sphere can draw gravity to make itself heavier than anything else, and inversely repel gravity to be lighter than air, changing its shape to glide effortlessly. Using our world’s aeronautical understanding, you can dive in the air to come back up and glide some more as you steer through the planet’s atmosphere. And like any good video game, there’s a double-jump for good measure. In order to traverse the planet’s surface with ease, you’ll need to master the mechanics of the gravity to gain huge momentum downhill to then release and glide ever clearing the top. I haven’t seen such momentum-based movement since Tribes, and it’s a welcome feeling.

The game will direct you towards the objective by using beams or glowing balls of light as signals. Beyond that, the game doesn’t have any text beyond its subtitles to convey what you’re supposed to do. This lack of guidance never felt frustrating or lacking. It in fact gave me the courage to explore, and calm of not needing to progress as fast as possible. Do enough looking around, and you’ll gather power-ups scattered throughout a level. These power-ups will enhance your glide and power capabilities. The bright beam of light on the horizon of every level is where you’re going, your end goal. Reach the giant, slanted lit-up runway that resides on the planets here, and you’ll be propelled to the next with a shower of colored lights.

The game is light on being overt. It conveys its story through distorted voiceovers with subtitles, and flashes of hand-painted artwork. Combined with other auditory elements, is really effective. There’s a mystery to be understood, but events are told somewhat out of order, and it’s up to you to piece it all together. By the time the credits rolled, I can’t say I had a better understanding of the goings on, but it kept me interested the whole way through. You’ll see the game’s credits at around two hours or so, and from a story and even gameplay perspective, felt like the right time.

Every planet and level in Exo One is intricately detailed, and visually distinct from the last. There’s one level in particular that stood out, it’s a level where you’re asteroid hopping right next to a sun. It introduces new mechanics that it of course doesn’t teach you. So you have to infer them, and it didn’t take me long to figure it out as I finished the level faster than any other before it. While it’s the most unclear, it was the most unique among all of the ones you’ll get to explore.

To say that Exo One is gorgeous is an understatement. The game uses a wide range of color, geometry, and space to give personality to each planet. If nothing else, my favorite planet is “Sagan IV”, if for nothing else but for its name. This game is like Space Engine, but with handcrafted visuals as you coast across the surface. The game’s camera actually feels like a camera, as it contains the crosshairs that could be found during the Apollo missions, even getting splashes of water on it when it rains or you’re too close to the sea. As you play through a level, they will sometimes change the time of day and the weather as you navigate through them. It’s simple, yet effective.

Sound plays a vital role in this game. All of the dialogue is spoken in backwards, distant echoes. The other sounds that occupy the game’s audio is all ambiance, and its minimalism at its best. With the ocean and the wind, that’s just about it in terms of sound effects to hear play throughout. Your craft of unknown origin makes sounds that can be found on Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine”, and it can be haunting at times.

With the modest price and low time commitment it asks of you, Exo One is worth everything that you give it. I’d like to see the developer do more in this universe, but I have no idea what that would even look like. So maybe less is more. The solitude of playing the game is persistent, giving a sense of dread even when you have no attachment to the character or events in the game. All that you feel is the desire to go home, and to be safe and sound in a familiar place again. Exo One is cryptic, experimental, and all-around enchanting.

A Steam code was provided by the publisher for review purposes