ZED

ZED
N/A
Metacritic
60
Steam
38.25
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$17.99
Release date
4 June 2019
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
60 (99 votes)

ZED is a unique and compelling narrative you experience on Desktop PC or VR. Journey through surreal landscapes spanning one man’s life and career, as you learn about his desperate quest to reconnect fading memories and create a final work for a special person.

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ZED system requirements

Minimum:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 or greater
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 18 GB available space
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
953370
Platforms
Windows PC
Mac
Linux
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TEMPUS
TEMPUS

Adventure, Casual, Indie

xDr: 45.75
Popularity
Reviews
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RoninOtter
RoninOtter

The Short Of It

Zed is a heartfelt story told gradually over the course of a walk through the surreal representations of an old man's mind. I place it among other narrative "walkers" such as Dear Esther, The Stanley Parable, and The Beginner's Guide. If you cried during the first 20 minutes of 'Up,' expect Zed to tug pretty hard at your heartstrings. It suffers a bit from some repetitive pacing, and don't expect any puzzles or gameplay elements of consequence.

The Long Of It

Even though I personally give it a thumbs up, I can understand why a lot of folks gave Zed a negative review. It's not advertised as a "puzzle game" per-se, but upon first glance it does give the expectation that it would be more interactive than it ultimately is. All you're able to do is walk around and click on things to progress and unlock new dialogue and text. It also has several repeated environments where you sit twiddling your thumbs in order to give the narration time to do its thing. I love a well-told story in a virtual world that takes its time, but even I got a bit impatient.

Where Zed shines is in how it allows the story to unfold to the viewer naturally. It does this through the use of highly charming hand-drawn art, creative writing, environment design, and voice acting. It's an emotionally challenging story, and one that is highly relatable to those with creative mindsets or who've experienced troubled childhoods (or adulthoods!) Nothing is explicitly spelled out to the viewer, which makes the gradual revelation of the narrative's conclusion all the more satisfying. My eyes definitely moistened at the completed book for Charlotte at the end. Incredibly sweet, and nicely done.

I can't go as far as to say that Zed is "great," because I feel that it has some notable shortcomings:

    • Despite using a more modern game engine, it's not nearly as visually compelling as some older games like Dear Esther.
    • Despite being produced by some of the team from Cyan, it doesn't have any actual "game" to it, and contains no more "puzzle solving" than reading a short story does.
    • The game is short, but would be even shorter if you weren't required to walk through all of the environments to locate the arbitrary things to click, making it feel overall like there's a decided lack of substance to it.

"Walking narratives" like Dear Esther work so well because the slow pacing is paired with stunning environments that are new and fresh at every turn. Zed feels like the creators were aiming for that sort of experience, but the use of small, repeated identical spaces paired with simplistic props doesn't do nearly as good of a job keeping the player's sense of wonder alive during their mandatory march through the narration. As a result, there was a strong degree of "Can we get on with it please?" that crept into my mind.

Beefs aside, I appreciated that Zed was daring enough to tell a story about how people are messy, and that coping with difficult family environments leaves a mark on multiple generations. It does this while also addressing the challenges of being "blessed" with a creative mind, and tying it all up nicely in a legitimately adorable children's book that I would have loved to have read to my kids. You'll probably utter a genuine, non-cynical "wow that was really sweet" as the credits roll, just before you uninstall it to save disk space.

And don't think I didn't notice that Selenitic rocket ship at the end! Nice nod. ;)

Nakami
Nakami

Currently a broken mess in vr, will check back in a day. If it's still broken I'll refund it.

Strelok
Strelok

Sadly, this ended in my first refund. I had high hopes when I saw this was published by Cyan, but sadly the time came for my first ever refund.

Please notice that I absolutely love the sound, writing, and general feel, this is absolutely not meant in a bashing way, but as a 3D artist myself...

Minutes into the game I was not able to ignore all the texturing issues anymore. There is so much UWV stretching going on, lightbleeding through certain walls, and some walls not even properly snapped to the floor mesh in some areas, allowing the player to look through the entire worldspace, which is rather immersion breaking. It just feels so rushed. The grunge decal is used so often and in so many places, art fatigue hits quickly, in some places it's clearly hitting the other side of the tileset and it results in a very man-made grunge splatter ( especially in the sewer tileset intersections)

Some areas look better, but after ignoring some of the messy texturing work, gaps in walls in the first areas, the sewer sadly did it for me and I had to quit.

Some examples which caught my eye at first glance :

https://imgur.com/a/d15BXGx

Now because the game does really feel good, is very smooth and the writing seems awesome, others may completely ignore all the above, which is good! I personally was just turned off by it.

So, if you don't mind all of the above, go ahead and try the game! :)

nrosko
nrosko

Unfortunately the game is teleport only, there are no options for locomotion or GFX. Just sound volume & subtitles so i will not be recommending the game in its current state. Also the the hands are really poorly modelled with no textures. Was really looking forward to this game but the locomotion is a deal breaker.
Played on Oculus Rift.

WeebShit
WeebShit

This game is amazing and i have never played a first person adventure/puzzle/narrative game before but this really was a great way to get to know these types of games better it is really fun and has a very good story that you follow as you go along in the game. If you have never played a game like this before its a great introduction and i loved it.

-=| TheMadC |=-
-=| TheMadC |=-

This is obviously a passion project for the makers. The story is nice, the voice acting and the music are excellent. Reminiscent of the "Stanley Parable" and even more like "The Beginners guide". Those games, however, had a quirk. Something fun that would make it playable. This story isn't a game. It's an audiobook that let's you walk around. Walk around clicking all the highlighted items and solve a very simple slide puzzle to advance to the next room. There's a journal in which you can read the story behind each item you click but there's no penalty or reward if you do or don't.
Coming from Cyan, I was a bit disappointed. Played through it in 2 hours.
If you're axpecting a puzzle game, don't buy it. If you like listening to a story while you click things, do.

Crentin Dalbs
Crentin Dalbs

tldr - If the idea of this story spoke to you, I'd really recommend checking out Sanitarium instead, which is cheap on Steam and GOG - it's also about a man trapped in his head and grappling with his past. Sanitarium is touching, scary, hilarious, and delightful.

e: I received a response from Eager to which I felt I should respond, and have done so at the end of this post.
e2: added one final thought below.

ZED has released in an exceptionally rough state. I found out after buying it today that the game had "changed focus" and was no longer a puzzle game, but it's clear upon playing it that the game has gone through some sort of severe developmental trouble and has, for whatever reason, been simplified/gutted to get it out the door. The product they've released on Steam only matches the original Kickstarter pitch in the most surface-level, empty ways. I'm disappointed in how it turned out, but really hope that Chuck Carter can gather himself and knock it out of the park next time. Chuck is an exceptionally talented artist with an eye for environments, but it didn't work out on the gameplay side this time. For now, I'd just wait for Firmament.

There are no environmental puzzles (or interaction really) of any kind. Each section of the game involves either waiting for voiceovers to end before a door opens, or walking/backtracking through an environment to find and pick up objects, which triggers a simple picture-matching puzzle on the exit door. FInding the objects adds a new entry to your journal, the animation for opening which kills any exploration momentum i had, to the point that I just stopped reading the journal until the very end once I'd found everything. The puzzle UI is very finicky, sluggish, and often does not respond to mouse clicks. Apparently the VR is not great either, only supporting teleporting.

The story as originally intended may have been more poignant, but I found the player character to be yet another horribly unlikeable Bad Dad, who regrets being a Bad Dad and tries to make up for being a Bad Dad. I felt one(1) emotion at the end, but the story was so truncated that it never really hit home.

Here are a couple tips if you end up buying this game that should clarify a few things I was confused about:

1. Stephen Russell just kinda talks to himself sometimes? like sometimes he says the same thing twice overlapping himself? One Stephen Russell is sassier than the other. This is because the sassy Stephen Russell is meant to be someone called "The Dreamer," a personified version of Prime Stephen Russell's warped mind, who would twist and turn the game world to challenge the player. This is not explained or explored or justified in the finished game, the Dreamer now does nothing but bicker, and I had no idea what the heck that was supposed to be about until I went back and re-read the original Kickstarter pitch.

2. The game turns black & white at one point for a little bit in the "hub world" you return to several times during which you hear a voice mail somebody sent you. This appears to be a reference to the sentence "The mood in ZED changes from sinister to sublime in a matter of heartbeats" from the Kickstarter pitch. The moment where it turns black&white for a little bit is apparently the most they could get out of it.

e: I've received a response from Eager describing how they had, in fact, discussed how they had altered the game from the initial KS pitch, and they're right! After playing the game, I was able to find some of this on my own. However, as I was unable to afford a pledge back when the Kickstarter was live, so I did not receive these updates. I never meant to insinuate that you were not upfront about changing the game. I simply meant that, after wishlisting the game on Steam, it was as I said: nowhere on Steam was it mentioned that the game was altered, and so had no reason to look for what had changed until after I had played the game. While expectations being subverted on their own is never inherently a bad thing (not to mention that I am what you'd call a Walking Simulator Enthusiast and am no hater of narrative-based games), the game's roughly 90 minute playtime read as a truncated, stretched experience - especially when more than a few of those minutes were simply spent waiting for voice acting to complete and a door to open.

Having spent a day thinking about it, I think a good representative example for my reservations about ZED comes from the big "City" map. It's probably the largest map in the game, and certainly the most intricate; the visual used most prominently in marketing materials for the game. However, when you finally get there you find that you are locked to a series of narrow walkways that are completely separate from the environment. The space of the city does not factor into the design of the playable space in any way, and you're not encouraged (or really able) to explore what is, in my opinion, the most visually engaging space in the game. You're just stuck looking at it from a distance, a voyeur of a static, empty series of meticulously designed buildings, picking up stuffed animals and reading a journal, before winding back around trying to find the door, after which you spend a couple minutes fiddling with a picture-matching puzzle to continue onto the next small area. Just like how the player character never actually interacts with anyone but himself, only hearing other characters' answering machine messages, the player/game connection feels lax if not nonexistent.

Having worked on some prolonged, deeply personal performance projects for years, and been terrified and anxious and excited to show them to the folks that would take the time to experience them, I understand and fully empathize that this is a personal project that means a lot to the people involved. But to respond to me that "this game isn't for everyone" and "Other people liked it" feels a little dismissive, as if your work is above critical discussion, like my experience isn't valid. I don't know if this is what you believe or if it's what you feel like you have to say, but either way it didn't feel great.

Just to be clear, I'm not in any way saying "debate me!!!!" as really at the end of the day I think you should just keep doing what you think is best, but I felt like writing about what I saw and this was the forum in which I chose to do it.

e2: just one last thought before i probably put this game behind me (forgive me, I cannot remember the player character's name and can't find it anywhere, so I'll just use his voice actor's): in order for Stephen Russell's character to "redeem" himself, he makes a comic for his newborn granddaughter. In it, he predicts (for no reason I can discern) that Charlotte will one day fly a rocket ship. We also learn that Charlotte does indeed eventually move away from the family home to pursue a career in rocket science. There's something missing here - Where is Charlotte's story? What happened in her life to make her follow through on her grandfather's book? Was it her mother? What about Charlotte's mother, who Stephen seems to push away for most of her life, but eventually finds it in herself to put (at least parts of) her life aside to help her dad figure out the problem with the Zed rights? What about Stephen's wife, Charlotte? How did Charlotte cope with the drinking, how did she feel about him? What was the impact of her horrible death on her daughter? There's a story about at least three generations of women here, just out of reach, which just serve as set dressing and reification to the smarmily-remembered memories of a life poorly lived.

Of course, not everything that happened to Stephen was Stephen's fault, but if we're supposed to understand that Stephen really did affect the lives of other people through his work, why can't we see more of the people he affected? The actual impact of a regrettable life is not primarily within the person doing the regretting.

Hombre Gato
Hombre Gato

As someone who never played Myst, I relate the experience to the old Dreamforge game Sanitarium, but with an aesthetic and sensibility closer to The Longest Journey.

Smalls
Smalls

Three minute final thoughts: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/434548220
Full walk through: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/434542928

You've got 20 dollars. And you are sat there right now thinking: what do I spend it on? Do I buy a starving child a meal? Do I upgrade my sock drawer? Or do I spend it on a game that will give me 2 hours of gameplay for roughly $10/hr?

If you are thinking you are the kinda person that likes to spend that kinda money for this kinda game, let me tell you about Zed.

It's a magical, strange walking simulator with puzzles that you could have completed when you were 3 years old. Probably better then. I like walks. I take them whenever I can. The quality of the walk is the question. What was the weather like? How was the company? How do I feel at the end of it?

The weather is beautiful. Really, the art style is stunning.

The company is interesting and engaging. We had a nice conversation.

At the end of this walk I wanted to cry. But in a good, call your parents and tell them you love them way.

But, I didn't get much exercise. And I'm okay with that.

R7AN
R7AN

If you're into immersive games I'd have to recommend this. No, It's not like Myst or Riven at all when it comes to puzzles, and I understand this game might not be for everyone...But if you like relaxing adventure games you have to give this a try.

It's a pretty short game, but still worth it at $18. If you can get it for cheaper go for it.

brjacobso
brjacobso

It's a very light game, with not much to it. It's fairly disappointing for the price point. The pics in the store page make it look like there is an elaborate environment to explore. There isn't, it's just a game of fancy backgrounds and easy gameplay.

Rayne
Rayne

Zed is absolutely beautifully done! Very dreamy and surreal, a really touching story. It's very immersive and draws you in right away.

Cynic
Cynic

This game isn't for everyone. It's a philosophical walking simulator.
But, if you want to really delve into what constitutes a life well lived, then this may be for you.
The story was very believable with good voice acting. The characters weren't heroes or villains, just fallible people making the same sorts of mistakes we could all make. The protagonist is fully formed, and you are intrigued to learn more about him.
As far as the game mechanics, they are simple and sometimes a little clunky... but that's not what the game is about. It's about the story. Do yourself a favor and read EVERYTHING when you play this game. If you don't, you're cheating yourself out of the true content of this game.

greer.kenneth
greer.kenneth

A bit disappointing. Very linear and mostly narrative. There are no real puzzles in this game. I'm hoping I missed something and there is another layer to this game, but I doubt it. I'm sure it's a lot more fun in VR and it was priced reasonably. I will support anything from CYAN and I was happy to purchase and play this game.

Ira
Ira

False advertising, horrible progression, uninspired gameplay. No real content other than half-decent visuals and incredibly unoptimized particle FX.

Only credit I give is for the sound engineers, who did a fantastic job. Otherwise bad game. DO NOT BUY.

Brian
Brian

Don't buy this if you're looking for a puzzle game. This is a short walking simulator telling a life story.

Aradesh3K
Aradesh3K

I love Cyan, and when they decided to publish this game, I was pretty excited about it.
I don't know what I was expecting, but in my short time with it, it felt too much like a walking simulator.
Which alone wouldn't be a bad thing, but it feels too uninteresting. Walk around a small area trying to find some small objects that are not obvious at all.
Only really interesting thing about this game is that the main voice actor is the same guy who played Nick Valentine in Fallout 4.

Maybe the game would be more interesting in VR, but I didn't get a chance to check that out yet, and not sure I will.

Mcfluffle
Mcfluffle

So like many other negative reviews i too have loved Cyan since Myst. But sadly, as of right now, i can not recommend this game. it may just be my system having a buggy glitch filled experience but it is forcing me to write this negative review.

TLDR: game crashed, forced me to restart at the beginning and then would not let me progress again. Cyan helped me fix the issue and i was able to enjoy the game.

So i started my play through of ZED and got to the level where you are running through a few trains at what appears to be a train terminal. right before i was about to do the little picture "puzzle" the game and my entire computer froze. I was forced to hold down the power button to get anything to happen after waiting for 5 minutes. When everything booted back up and launched ZED again and to my surprise i was back at the beginning of the game. Steam still showed my played time and unlocked achievements but the game its self acted as if i had never played it. I checked the file integrity and everything looked okay. I reluctantly began to play again from the beginning and ended up in a loop. I would go through the sewer, finish the halloween level and the moment i walked through the door to move on it would send me back to the sewer..i played through this loop 3 times thinking the game would figure its self out but no such luck. I tried to close the game out,again check file integrity and restart my system. i go and fire up ZED again and surprise surprise i am once again back at the beginning like i never even played the game.

For now the game will sit in my library. I've emailed Cyan to see if they have some insight so we shall see. Prior to the above issues i was enjoying the game. I don't mind a good walking sim with a nice story. If it was not for the headache i have gone through with the game i would probably suggest it. For now i do not recommend it. I will change my review if the issues i am experiencing get resolved.

EDIT:

Cyan did an amazing job helping me resolve the issue with the game and got everything back up and running smoothly. I played through the game from start to finish and truly enjoyed the story and the beautiful scenery that went with it. If you are looking for a classic Myst style puzzle game then this is not for you. This is for the person who wants to sit back, relax and enjoy a beautiful story unfold in front of you.

CTraveler263
CTraveler263

ZED is the type of story that I feel we need more of. It's not too heavy on puzzles or action, and its more focused heavily on the characters and the narrative. It's a stylistic sort of experience that you can't really do justice with words alone. Everything builds up to the ending with a hefty payoff.

It's a solid delve into the nature of a mind, in the desire to reassemble pieces and make one final memory.

KiwSnacks
KiwSnacks

I like this game so far its very relaxed and easy going the visuals are pleasant and the story is interesting not much action though here is a video on it https://youtu.be/FMqbTpAY1RQ

Pahiro
Pahiro

As beautiful as the graphics were, I'm disappointed with the lack of puzzles to contend with. The find-four-glowing-items-and-then-complete-a-nine-piece-swapping-puzzle mechanics got repetitive really quickly and even though I can only assume that the intention was to provide some kind of challenge while not detracting from the story itself, it became annoying very quickly.

I also would've expected some more absurdity within the dreamscape we were travelling through. The only thing that I found truly interesting was the spiralling hallway of doors. It also bothered me that the giant cogs in the centre place silently slipped in and out of the water without so much as a drip or splash.

The music could become annoyingly repetitive at times as well. I often see a lot of these types of game justifying the cost of adding a proper accompanying score by providing it as an album for an additional cost. Nothing special there unfortunately.

All in all, it's a relatively okay story, better than quite a number that I've played, and the window into the life of this old fictitious illustrator did resonate with me more than most of the other games of this type that I've finished. Unfortunately I was just expecting a lot more from a game with a Cyan label attached. For the price it's still worth a play-through though, if you've got the pocket money laying around, but I don't think I can recommended it.

uasoundpro
uasoundpro

I have been waiting for this game since the beginning of the year, seeing as how it was coming from a close friend of Cyan and their belief in the project - by that association alone I was behind it.

It is understood that it is not meant to be a derivative of Myst, Obduction, or anything from their central camp (except visually) - so I did not tailor my expectations to puzzle solving and exploration on a massive scale. In fact, there are no puzzles that remotely compare to those of any Cyan game. What I did get was a very moving story that was very beautifully told for the eyes and ears (I highly recommend headphones to appreciate it in full). I would almost liken it to something closer to "Firewatch", but on a more surreal and simpler scale - something that can be played by anyone without the need for any external guidance. I think it works best for the story and is a good starting point for Eagre Games.

While it was much shorter than I was hoping, the game is to the point, and right in my wheelhouse - if you're looking for an interactive story rather than hardcore puzzle action, this is a good escape from reality for a half a day. Play it with a friend or significant other!

What I *do* need to do still is play this in VR - I don't have the means to obtain a setup at this moment, but I'm hoping to next year and re-visit all the games in my library that have the option! I'm sure it's even more beautiful being 100% immersed in the universe.

I hope this game helps Eagre Games to develop the next project! I do recommend some more heavy-duty puzzle and interactivity action based on the clientele of this game.

Overall rating - 7.5/10

Dan Longman
Dan Longman

So I finished the game, and I liked it.

Story is really good well written and well acted. Only issue with it is Audio mix is off and no separate volume controls so can be hard to hear the voices I had to turn subtitles on.

Game looks and runs well for the most part there are some really iffy textures and geometry in places.

Gameplay is very basic and involves you go through memories and collecting objects from your past you get a journal entry with a writing about them. then you solve a very simple 3x3 picture puzzle.

it's super short, It was 2 hours for me. So at the current price $20.49CAD it's a bit steep to be honest.

there is no zoom there are pages and stuff in the environment I would love to be able to zoom into to read. also would be nice if there were more objects in the world you could pick up and examine besides the objective items. The spinning the objects you need to pick up just feels wrong and doesn't move the way you would expect with the right stick.

But I am glad I played it I give it a 7/10.

Updating review: I have played through again in VR and it's a super great experience.

Varenx
Varenx

It took me about a day to gather my thoughts about the game, which is hopefully an indication that it was thought provoking enough. Albeit short - roughly 2 hours from start to finish - ZED is a very interesting ... Not sure if "game" is the right word for it. I'd personally call it an audio-visual experience. A sort of narrated interactive story.

If you are looking for the Myst-like puzzle game, this is not that. The game elements, the puzzles, are incredibly light and very-very repetitive in nature, which is why I'd hesitate to call it a 'game'. Now with this fact established, what ZED actually is is a very creatively told story with eye-catching art, great voice acting and writing, with a beautiful accompanying soundtrack. It was enough to keep me hooked and go through it all in one sitting and I don't regret one minute of it, nor do I regret the purchase, hence my recommendation despite it not clearly fitting the 'game' category in my eyes.

If you are interested in these sort of narrative experiences (think Dear Esther, it's probably the closest comparison I can come up with off the top of my head) then you aren't going to regret picking this up. Roughly the cost of your average cinema night really, and compared to most films the writing and the performance you hear and see here is going to be miles and miles ahead.

Twitch
Twitch

First of all, this isn't a puzzle game. I know it was promised to be one, and it's unfortunate that it turned out the way it is. This game is much closer to Gone Home or Dear Esther than anything else.
With that said, I think the story is a pretty good one. I found it to have a pretty powerful and satisfying ending. On top of that, it's a very pretty game. If you go into this with the right mindset, you'll get 2-4 hours of heartwarming art with a heartwarming ending.
If that's what you're looking for, you'll like this game.

BeavisChrist
BeavisChrist

2 hours of linear walkthrough. Pretty environments, great music background and ambiance. Not much in the gaming department unless you think a 3x3 grid picture puzzle every few minutes is a challenge. Big fan of Myst series, Obduction, The Witness, but this product does not compare.

Waste of time and $19.

Magierkabel
Magierkabel

The environments are lovely made and look beautiful. Sadly, this is so far the only positive thing I can express..

As this game was also made for VR I gave it a try.
- The only move option is teleportation. Not only can you only teleport within 3 meters, but with every teleportation you'll be rotated by a random degree and you have to adjust, which is extremely annoying over time.
- Everytime your head collides with an object your screen turns black and you'll be respawning within 10 seconds if you don't move
All this makes this game unenjoyable for VR.
- (quite insignificant but worth a mention): Many objects are way too big (like the toilet which seems to be made for elephants)

Besides the VR gameplay:
- There is just a few objects that can be interacted with
- There is - at least for me - no real joy of carefully looking at anything.. the worlds look stunning, but somehow it feels like looking at a beautiful wallpaper
- The jigsaw puzzles become quite annoying
- It's basically just a walking simulator, so don't expect to do anything exciting in this game - the main aspect is the narrative

Doobes
Doobes

As previous reviews have said, it's essentially a walking simulator, with a few easy puzzles and a fairly decent story told though flashbacks and narration, in the same vein as games like Gone Home. The visuals are also quite impressive and rather eclectic at times; some areas are quite a feast for the eyes. The ending was also very touching.

My only complaints were that it was a little short and most of the environments were relatively small and somewhat lacking in interactivity. Also, while the PC experience was decent, you could tell this was truly meant for VR.

In the end, I liked Zed for what it was and, after finishing the game, still feel it was money well spent. That may not be the same case for others though.

BearEckles
BearEckles

Let me start this review off by saying how much I love everything Cyan has put out there. I've played through all the Myst games and have read the books multiple times. I loved Uru and the concept that was ahead of its time (still waiting for the day they decide to recreate that concept). I played through Oblivion and while it wasn't Myst, it was close enough. I'm even a Firnament kickstarter supporter.

I dived into this game thirsty for more without even thinking twice and regretted it. I kept waiting for the game to begin, but it never did. I called it quits after the sewer area after I realized this was the game. I'm not even sure how they managed to get away with selling this as a "game". I did question the low price tag when I purchased it thinking wow that seems a little low for a full game, but didn't think too hard on it. Now I wonder how that price is even justified.

I will say the game looked beautiful, but I had no emotional investment or attachment to the story whatsoever. Be sure to do your research before buying this game or you might be disappointed like myself!

kclo4
kclo4

It is first a walking art story telling simulator and not really a puzzle game. Don't purchase this if you're expecting hard core puzzle. The best way I can describe this game is by referencing Fallout New Vegas's Lonesome Road character, Ulysses. The only talking character in the DLC speaks cryptically and not clearly,(for crazy IRL political and technical reasons) and had a bunch of back story and content cut. This made it hard to understand and empathize with. I'm sure we'll find out its the same with Zed. Its entirely possible I'm not smart enough to catch the nuances of this story, but I'm equally sure something happened in the dev period, something got ripped out and thats why I'm so confused. Something is missing. The ending was nice, but I left the game as confused to whom the main character was, and who his family was at the end as I was in the beginning.

Elon Musket
Elon Musket

Only two games have ever made me cry like a little bitch when I got to the end: What remains of Edith Finch, and this. Holy crap. Here I was expecting a hard core puzzle solving game. I already had my pad and paper out and was drawing maps of recurring areas and taking notes, only to have an all too soon unexpected ending expose myself as a total emotional wreck.

Very well done. It's games like these that remind us all that games are truly art. Just wish it hadn't ended so soon.

Carado
Carado

Heartbraking story combined with a truly amazing graphics. Not so much a complex gaming experience, more of a travel through some really beautifull mind landscape and emotional graphics, just between reality and fantasy. Don't miss if you like quality games!

Floydman
Floydman

TL;DR: Buy this game. It's worth every penny.

I have come to enjoy conversing with the Eagre team on Discord, and I can say these are fantastic people with a real passion for what they do. I sincerely hope they keep on creating. I'm going to list out what I felt the pros and cons of ZED are. Mind you, this is from my own experience. Everyone has things they like and dislike, and this is just my case. I played through the entire thing in VR on an Oculus Rift, and I was not a Kickstarter backer, so I bought ZED at full price on the day of release.

Pros

    • The game is absolutely gorgeous. The visuals have been well-thought-out, and many of the spaces have been filled with interesting details that add to the immersion. (Also see a con about this.) It's not as realistic as, say, Obduction, but I don't think it's supposed to be, and it definitely has a style all its own. If you find yourself thinking some things are out of proportion, I believe that is all on purpose.
    • The soundtrack is beautiful. Terry did a great job and I will probably buy it when it comes out. I felt the most emotional playing this game when the soundtrack was well timed.
    • The voice acting is really very good. I didn't care too much for the very last part, but everything else felt genuine to me.

Cons:

    • Related to the first pro point, there are many spaces that are relatively barren compared to others. You can spend an hour in some "dreamscapes" looking at all the details, and others feel like they are meant to trap you while you listen to story.
    • The story didn't resonate with me nearly as much as I thought it would. Much of it is meant to be inferred through the artist's thoughts and memories, but they are often incomplete, and potentially heart-wrenching story beats end up served in an underwhelming way. There is some seriously cry-worthy stuff that happens, but it doesn't quite follow through. When Cyan came on board Rand Miller was involved in getting the ending changed to some unknown degree, so I am interested to know what the original ending was like.

All-in-all, I think you should buy this game. I'm glad I did. I hope our friends at Eagre have learned a lot about how to make projects like this, and I look forward to supporting their future work.

P.S. For consideration by the Eagre team, here are some requests I have for future updates:

    • Add a way to visit any "room" you want after you've completed the game. Right now, each room can only be explored in order. I can understand this for achievement reasons, but there are lots of things to see, and with only 1 save slot available, I don't want to have to play through every time I want to explore a specific room.
    • Add some way to examine the objects you collect during the game. The journal is nice, but the drawings are not the same thing as holding the object in your hand.

Pablo
Pablo

ZED was... fine. A pretty game, with nice sound... but I didn't have fun. I played through the game in just under 2 hours, really just looking around, but it was very shallow in it's game play. The same "puzzle" over and over again inside of a linear track with narration in the background, some nice music, and a short story... I love Cyan and all of it's games, but this... was just disappointing. I wanted to like it, but I didn't enjoy it at all... and I hate that.

FireStridr
FireStridr

A heart wrenching story told beautifully, that left me in tears by the end.

If you're expecting a long-lasting puzzle game you'd expect from Cyan, (ala Myst, Obduction, etc.) you'll be sorely disappointed. ZED is not a puzzle game in the slightest, but a "walking simulator" built around gorgeous visuals and a rich narrative, along with great vocal performances.

ZED is a story, not a game, but I still would wholeheartedly recommend this game. Well done Cyan.

LoadingVern
LoadingVern

Terrible terrible walking sim, the only reason i tried this, was because of the renowned creator, a creator of things myst... but this is horrible. just flung out there to try and make some quick monies. not me, refunded...
horrible to have the cyan name connected with this... Obduction was awful, now this...i dont hold much hope for firmament...

Droogie4Ever
Droogie4Ever

This game is a mixture of walking simulator and story-based puzzle game. Some of the people that worked on Myst worked on this game and it shows. Everywhere you go there is strange architecture (some of which you can visit and some of which you can't unfortunately).

The basic story is that you are an ageing artist that wants to leave behind something for your daughter and grandchild. You spend the game revisiting and remembering some of your most important memories. Once you've pieced together everything, the game ends with something very touching that I won't describe in detail (I don't like giving away spoilers) but I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I got a bit choked up at the end so personally, I felt like it all came together as well as could be expected.

This is not the kind of game for people that like lots of action. Other than the occasional puzzle, there's really not much to do except walk around and admire the view and squeeze a bunch of stuffed animals. It was fairly long compared to the average walking sim and I think the puzzles helped pad that length out a little bit. They were all pretty easy but I still really enjoyed them. If you don't enjoy walking sims and easy puzzles there is probably no chance that you will enjoy this game. I personally really liked it but Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is also one of my favorite games and not a ton of people enjoyed that one so I have weird tastes in video games.

If you're on the fence and aren't sure whether or not you'll like this one, I did a video series on Youtube you can check out and decide for yourself if this is something you might like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOi8BtWap6M&list=PL08FwntTpxPDssbKJ821u…

KeltonFornit
KeltonFornit

It's interesting to see that people who left negative reviews typically played for much less time than those leaving positive ones. If you approach ZED expecting a fast-paced game or lots of puzzles, then you will likely be disappointed.

ZED is designed to be experienced slowly - for the player to take in the visuals, the music and above all the story. It is a narrative game and deals with difficult emotional and psychological issues. It is about an elderly artist with dementia, who struggles to remember and then come to terms with some things that happened during his life. I feel this was done brilliantly through the incredible voice acting and accompanying visuals that represent his journey through his mind and through time. The music also helps enormously to add an emotional element to the story.

I think it is a shame that more people don't allow themselves the time to experience ZED as it was meant to be. Yes. you can probably "complete" it in under an hour, but I believe doing so is an injustice to the intention of it's designers. If you played through quickly, consider giving yourself a bit more time to replay it and take in the story properly.

ZED is a rarity among games, though it's not really a game at all. Highly recommended.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I really hate this game and wish I could get my money back. I didn't know anything about it until the designers did an AMA on Reddit. All I knew was it is supposed to me made by the same designers as Myst so I was expecting something at least somewhat similar. Well, all you do it walk (teleport for me in VR) and then solve a very easy scrambled picture puzzle to go to the next level. That's it. Nothing more. What a waste of money.

Kristus
Kristus

If you're expecting a Cyan style adventure game, this is not it. It's a walking simulator with very little to do in it and only one very simple puzzle that is repeated every time you leave an area.

lmwoz
lmwoz

Although I needed a little help at the start of ZED, I figured things out and went on to complete the game. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I would have liked some puzzles in it, but I still had fun playing it!

dgcarlin
dgcarlin

If you're looking for a Myst/Obduction style puzzle game (am big fan of those), you probably won't like this one.

But I'm a "story teller" at heart (I do amateur video work), so I found this game quite enjoyable ... to put together the story of the main character from a series of disjoint abstracted "memories" was interesting to me.

I did not learn of this game until the release, so had no preconceived notions as to what it would be other than the promo material on the store page -- I understand from other comments that from the early Kickstarter days it maybe was originally intended to be more of the traditional puzzle game we expect from Cyan (Ventures) -- so that might be where a lot of the disappointed reviews are coming from? I did not go into this game expecting a free-roaming interact-with-everything environment.

To me it was like a walk through someone's memories and learning the story of their life -- both good and bad. Almost an interactive audio-book in nature (the modest price reflects that), and viewed from that point of view, I liked it.
The story was emotionally engaging and the voice acting decent (esp. for me personally, many of the regrets expressed being common to someone my age and career path where some personal life was sacrificed). My only quibble was the story was over much too quickly (a good movie always feels too short :-) ) but the story told what it had to tell without getting bogged down in distractions.

I don't have a VR set, so played it on regular monitor and keyboard/mouse. I found the rotation of held objects "quirky" (frustrating) and sometimes hard to rotate them to see the parts I wanted (maybe VR controls are better for that?) -- but that did not interfere overly much with the game play.

crmcleod
crmcleod

Made for ages 4 - 4.1 years, rubbish to the eighth degree.

w2121
w2121

Awesome VR adventure/interactive story with nice graphics and sound. Find 4 highlighted items in each scene and solve easy puzzles. No motion sickness thanks to instant teleport. Most bugs are solved after updates. 3+ hours.

8/10

MarathonManErnst
MarathonManErnst

A beautiful game with a message to think about. Highly recommended to play.

Defender of Lorien
Defender of Lorien

An enjoyable VR adventure game through varied, surreal and interesting environments. At the price point, seems like an excellent pickup for any adventure fan.

dpanter
dpanter

Thanks for bringing this majestic experience to Linux!
Ran perfectly in ultrawide resolution, right out of the box (Debian sid)

By Chucks beard, this game is worth every cent. Great work guys!

licona
licona

Where's the game? Zed has only Mystlike landscape, no more! You have only to collect objects, NO PUZZLE at all, only monotonous 9X9 childish puzzle to open doors, you go from a room to another, no machinery to solve, nothing! I'm very disappointed with this game.

River
River

TL;DR: I would recommend the game, but make sure you know what the game is before buying.

I enjoyed the game, and looking at the reviews, I was somewhat surprised about how negative they were. However, I do somewhat understand why there's so many negative reviews. I first found out about this game right after the kickstarter ended and did play the kickstarter demo, though it quickly slipped from my mind again. I was excited by the puzzles in the demo, and the heavy focus on puzzles in the kickstarter. Comparing the final game to what the kickstarter promised, it's quite different. The puzzles are pretty much all gone (except a repeated shifted-image puzzle), and the animation stretch goal also doesn't really show in the final game.

During development they did announce a shift of focus, as well as running out of funding halfway through, and Chuck having health problems halfway through. In the end, no puzzles are left in the game (except the earlier mentioned) and almost all of the many environments shown on the kickstarter and in ks updates are gone, with only the demo environment remaining, though redesigned gameplay-wise to remove the puzzles. Add to that the publisher being Cyan - mostly known for puzzle games like Myst - for whom this is their first game acting as publisher. The puzzle-focussed publisher, the puzzle implication in the kickstarter, and many kickstarter videos/screenshots showing puzzles and many environments can easily lead you to believe this is a puzzle game.

In the end, had I followed the kickstarter or been a backer, I'd probably not be as happy about the game. However, since I already knew about the changed focus before buying, I can say the game offered what I expected. It can be a little short (I finished in under 2 hours), but the environments are interesting, and the story is good too. The initial release had some problems, but they've already released a couple patches fixing any bugs, so if you're into story-heavy walking sims with interesting scenery, this is the game for you.

Christopher
Christopher

I thought this would have puzzles but it doesn't.
Just a walking simulator, sorry.

noobDeGuerre
noobDeGuerre

Not a game. You walk in a straight line for a short while and then it's over. You don't need to pay attention to the (admittedly beautiful) environments or the speeches.

Extremely disappointing.

mblt2334
mblt2334

I really enjoyed this. I followed the development of this game for a while, and had heard that they had switched to make the game narrative based vs puzzle based. honestly I don't miss the puzzles all that much, I still really like the surreal dream like environments and the story was great. the game was plenty immersive in VR with a really great soundtrack. I would recomend if you are into walking simulator/ narrative games like dear esther .

Anonymous
Anonymous

Very disappointed with this game! Myst should not even be mentioned in the "About This Game". What a waste of money.

Over There
Over There

Amazing! This game has made me a happy person. I love the detail and artwork. Truly a awesome game

Anariz
Anariz

I was unaware of this game until it hit Steam. Prior to purchasing, I read many reviews, some positive and others negative. I decided to give this game a chance since I’m not much of a shoot ‘em up type of player and am always searching for something different, enjoyable and relaxing. After purchasing and the start of play, I encountered some issues that were quickly resolved by the creators which then enabled me to play through the game. Currently I am not a VR player, maybe one day. My review is strictly PC based.

With that said, I am not one much for writing comments on how I like or dislike a game... However, I want you all to know that I thoroughly enjoyed Zed. So much so that I was near to tears at the end and every time I think of the story line in this game, I get choked up. I found it very touching in many ways. I found Zed to be a mixed bag of emotions. The music throughout the game was perfectly placed in connection with the memories that were shared. The scenes were, in my opinion, beautiful and immersive. I intend to play through this game at a different pace to catch some parts I may have missed my first time through.

In the end, after the problems I encountered were fixed, I only had one issue. There is no option to enable the player to slow down the mouse movement. I had a bit of motion sickness at times and find I would have enjoyed myself even more if it were slower.

My final decision about enjoyment or disappointment in a game is solely based on how I feel after my play experience. Did I feel as if I was actually experiencing what was happening; yes. Did the background music and sounds suit the experience; yes. What about the graphics, did it match the story lines; yes. My heart goes out to anyone who has a life experience of regret and I place this game right at the top of my list! I recommend this game to anyone in search of something different.

Thank you to all who helped bring this game to light for all to enjoy!

Artuff
Artuff

Zed is a game that I was very excited to play. From what I had seen before i bought it I was hyped for it. I went in with very high hopes for the story and voice acting. I was not disappointed, the entire time I was playing I was intrigued and wanted to play more. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a good story, amazing voice acting and puzzles.

dtx
dtx

The superb voice acting and atmospheric setting definitely set this game apart from others in the genre. The exploration lead game play ties in perfectly with the emotionally driven story line. A must have not only just for Myth fans, but anyone looking for a touching narrative.

ArtFarmer
ArtFarmer

Compliments / kudos:

- Loved the thought and care that went into the detailing, all the props.

- Lighting and texturing were excellent throughout, especially appreciated the attention to bump mapping.

- Voice acting was really really good, could not ask for better. Stephen Russell's voice is not far from a Tom Hanks, I initially wondered whether it was him.

...and a wish list:

- many of the 9-panel puzzle cartoons were originally rectangular art that had to be unfortunately clipped to fit the square format, rather than accommodating the original art format by making the puzzles rectangular

- voice overs were occasionally overpowered by ambient SFX, as with the entry to the outdoor cityscape (a woob-woob effect that had no purpose I could discern)

- When collecting artifacts, I often wished that rotating them to see their other facets would have revealed some interesting or useful tidbits of information; this unfortunately never happened

- Rather than having the journal open to the last collected artifact - which forces one to leaf backwards through the journal - it would have been nice to open directly to the first unread page.

- while the story is essentially a downer, that doesn't mean in any way that it isn't worth telling... and playing. However the story sure could've used some leavening, and this could easily have come in the form of the Zed comic books themselves, which I would have loved to have been able to read in little doses here and there through the tale. Seeing the actual comics would also have taken them out of the abstract, making them less a figment.

- All the squeaky stuffed toys! In the most unlikely places! Was there a point? I hoped that there would be an achievement offered if I squeaked each and every one of them, but I'm not sure that is the case. Also, how hard would it have been to give each of the four or five toy characters a different squeak sound?

RiderExMachina
RiderExMachina

This is a cute game, but more of a walking simulator than a puzzle game. The story is pretty well done and it's very neat how it ties everything together at the end.

jwilson50
jwilson50

Just finished playing ZED. Right off the bat, it is not everyone's cup of tea. You are entering the mind of an artist suffering from rapid memory loss. The game starts with blurry graphics but gets sharper as he processes through his memories. Each section brings him a little closer to coming back into the world. Game play is simple if you read and look at everything. The game's intent is to emotionally involve you in this man's journey back from his personal oblivion. Once it does you feel what he feels. All the sadness and regret. Outstanding story telling.

ben.reichman
ben.reichman

ZED is a game of beautiful environments, good voice acting, and deep storytelling ambition, with a brilliantly odd and touching premise, and at its best, it provides moments of intense and earned emotion that have stayed with me long after playing.

It's also a game that is frankly limited in scope, clearly for budget reasons. The environments are largely not interactive. Don't expect to open a lot of drawers or doors or pick up objects. Also, don't think of this as a classic adventure game filled with puzzles. It's more of a somewhat interactive storybook. (To be quite clear: the entire sum total of puzzles is this: each area has four items to find, and when all are found, a sliding tile puzzle appears over the area's exit door. The complete image from the puzzle is hidden somewhere in the area as a clue, but even without seeing it, you shouldn't have any trouble completing the puzzle.)

With all those limitations in mind, why am I strongly recommending this game? Well, if you empathize with the central character, get caught up in the story and all its nuance, the often stunning visuals, and appreciate the voice acting, you'll be very glad you played.

The stunning environments in particular often made me want to take screenshots, so I could savor them longer. The environments are at their best when ZED lets its surreal freak flag fly. Giant sculptures of expressive faces and heads, hovering and spinning cracked stone spheres, and an aesthetic that somehow combines quirky fun comic strip characters and bright colors with a deep melancholy and sense of regret, all make it worth playing. Some areas do feel tamer and less original; a Halloween sequence in a small neighborhood is charming, but feels somewhat generic. Likewise, the various life lessons and fond (or less fond) memories, vary from powerful, specific ideas to common sentiments that don't always hit a nerve the way they should.

The truth is that ZED's story, heart, and visuals are well worth the experience, and if occasionally, you might wonder what ZED could have been with a far larger budget, well, let's just be glad it exists at all.

pavelluden
pavelluden

Dump of 3d assets stitched in haste to resemble a walking sim with depressive voice over.
Don't waste your time and money, this dung has nothing in common with the old cyan's games.

unwaveringresolve
unwaveringresolve

I attempted to play this game with a Valve Index. I barely started the game before I ran into two game-stopping bugs.
1: In level transition areas, sometimes my display shuts off. I can still hear sound effects and even open and interact with my menu (using nothing but sound ques, so that's not easy). I had to exit the game from the Steam overlay to get out.
2. Sound suddenly cut out complete;y early in the first chapter. To turn it back on I had to quit the game and restart

And even if everything worked perfectly, it turns out that there's a fundamental problem with "walking simulator" type games in VR: the walking. You're supposed to take your time and look at things, but the default movement in ZED is for quick, silent teleporting. You can zip right through a level and barely notice what's around you. If you enable analogue movement, it still feels like you're running on rollerskates, and that's assuming you don't run into the problem I had, which is that ZED doesn't consistently read "Up" on the thumbstick as "Forward". Sometimes it;s "Sideways" for no obvious reason. In any event, it's hard to appreciate the environment when it feels like you're racing or spazzing out of control.

FakeZooPatrol
FakeZooPatrol

This was a lovely experience. I think some negative-review-folks were expecting a puzzle game. This is definitely a Dear Ester esque narrative game (though there's more to do and the story is linear and much easier to follow in Zed than that specific game). If you want to explore fantastic looking environments while listening to great voice over storytelling and music, check this one out.

Racketmensch
Racketmensch

Never really comes together. I can feel a lot of passion went into this, but it just doesn't tell an interesting story, provide interesting gameplay, or even really let you explore the interesting settings they show you. Short, tedious, un-innovative, and emotionally shallow. Really disappointing.

Mowog
Mowog

I love Zed, simple as that. It would be easy to slag it off as just another walking simulator, but I very much enjoy exploring new and fantastic environments at my own pace and taking time to contemplate what I find there. Zed appealed in particular because I've enjoyed Chuck Carter's previous work with Cyan; it was fun to find references in Zed to titles like Spelunx and The Manhole. Losing myself in the worlds of Zed for a few hours was a genuine treat, and I intend to return again and again.

Jeedeye
Jeedeye

This game is fairly heavy story wise. The story is told through VM clips and 2 narrators. The visuals are amazing and the story pacing is decent. I wish there were more puzzles involved. I still highly recommend this game, especially if you love the Myst series.

Trash Panda
Trash Panda

There's nothing here. It's a very basic story told directly without any nuance or subtlety. The entire gameplay loop consists of walking around collecting objects in silence and then standing still while the game tells you the story. It looks okay and the narration's fine, but that can't salvage this.

Fenom007
Fenom007

If I'm honest, a pretty boring walking simulator. There's some redeeming factors, and it's not the worst, but there's better out there.

neoadorable
neoadorable

Recommended just barely for great art and a good story, aided by competent voice acting. Otherwise very tepid, not really interesting, and by the number walking sim. A definite 6/10.

FastLawyer
FastLawyer

Experienced on the Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality. VR Review Only.

You can view my quick review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/AvWseE8xQ6o

This is not a full review. It is possible that the devs will fix this game in the future and that the story gets a lot better after I quit playing and refunded the game. However, currently the game is broken on VR. After each loading screen, and there are several, the game stops rendering to your VR headset. This problem was reported to the devs back in February. I had to refund because of this issue.

Also, the core gameplay loop is just boring. You object hunt through each level until you find all the items. You listen to audio tidbits. After you find all the hidden objects, a puzzle opens up. You solve the simple tile logic puzzle and the door opens to a loading screen. This happened on every level, except for those that just have dialogue ... so you just wait for them to stop talking before a door opens and then you get another loading screen.

I don't like to refund games, but I decided to refund this one. It just doesn't work on VR. They did add full locomotion and there is snap turning. However, locomotion, whether teleportation or full locomotion is bad and you do drift suddenly left or right (or up or down) using either method. With full locomotion there are pathing issues and the default walking speed is too slow. With teleportation locomotion, the teleport marker is inconsistent, so you have to consistently try more than once to teleport.

The set environmental pieces are nice & imaginative. However, you cannot interact with most objects. The few interactions you do have, are with your laser pointer where you point and click on some objects. Even then, the payoff from the interaction is hardly worth it. Lastly, while the visuals are okay overall .... the lighting and textures are poor in some areas.

Rate 3.5/10. I mean it's totally broken in VR. However, there may be a good story here. Some people apparently liked it enough to write a positive review.

rawky
rawky

Overly simplistic, disappointing based upon the promise. I haven't played it in a while but I am annoyed at myself for taking the recommendation from the Cyan newsletter.

Akari_Enderwolf
Akari_Enderwolf

I bought this game having seen that it was published by Cyan Ventures. I expected a game with some degree of puzzles and a lot of story, and I was not disappointed. The puzzles are easy picture puzzles that do what they need to and then move aside for the story to show through. A story about a grandparent's struggle and desire to create something for his grandchild. If you came looking for subtlety, you may be disappointed as that is not how a story like this should be told.

A story like this needs to be blunt because it's not about the nuances, or the subtleties, it's about the characters, and what they mean to each other. I read the journal entries of every item picked up along the way, 4 per puzzle room, and it gave me a sense of what kind of person the main character is, and how he interacted with his friends and family. This, combined with the narration made the ending very powerful and touching for me.

I do recommend this game to those who may feel lost, or may feel a disconnect in their life, the story will most likely touch your hearts like it touched mine. I also reccomend it to anyone who enjoys a relaxing narrative game, like a story book you can walk in.

wildgoosespeeder
wildgoosespeeder

There's a beautiful game to be had here, but there are a few technical shortcomings that hold this game back:

    • The controls seem to be tied to the framerate. I've had a few places where the framerate dipped from 60fps to 30fps and turning around 360-degrees and moving in four directions became slower. Other games, even Unreal Engine 3 or UE4 games, had a way to not tie the controls this way. The games had the same responsiveness despite framerate drops.
    • A default crosshair at all times would be great so I know how close I am to interacting with something.
    • Each level has four things to collect before attempting a tile-sliding puzzle near an exit door. Very early on, I was stuck for 10 minutes trying to find the items. I see a particle effect and a glowing outline to make them easier to spot, but the level I got stuck on had a greyscale filter, which made the effect harder to see. Maybe have a glowing effect on the object itself would be better, and maybe go as far as to have the glowing effect go through opaque geometry in the world when you get pretty close to the item (the technical terminology being the glow disobeys z-buffer rules or something, similar to how Portal 2 handles portals when behind a wall).
    • Needs a chapter selection.
    • Controller specific: 'A' selects items, such as memory fragments or stuffies, but 'RT' selects panels in slider puzzles or turning pages in books? There needs to be some consistency here. 'B' should go back if Y is engaged.

Overall good, but some serious problems prevent it from being better. I wish I had the ability to not say yes/no recommendation, but neutral.

jareth_16
jareth_16

I normally like games that Cyan is involved with, but this one just fell flat. It had a lot of potential, but was so broken in VR that it necessitated "creative gameplay" just to make it from level to level. It's been an ongoing bug, but has NEVER been fixed.

That sums it up, a lot of potential that's never been fixed. Two broken achievements, a level nobody can get to, virtually unplayable on the Oculus Rift. And the story... It's not as cohesive as I would have liked. There's no denying this is a game that was meant to be viewed as art (similar to Beginner's Guide), but this painting just wasn't quite ready to leave the easel.

cadmiummangantellurid
cadmiummangant…

Impressive level design, roughly adumbrated storyline, both all the time very surreal, and so the best way to play it after taking a deep inhale from a joint. Don't expect a puzzle adventure with lots of mind breaking puzzles, there's only one very easy puzzle per level section, and so it is indeed to be considered as a narrative adventure.

Very interesting and always a pleasure is the mixture between cartoonized sketches and realistic rendered environments, always a bit sunken in the mist of doting. Lots of hidden details can be discovered.

Deadsqrl
Deadsqrl

One of the worst game expiriences ever. Maybe with VR headset it can be better but i highly doubt that. Don't buy it.

GreatGreyBeast
GreatGreyBeast

Simple walking simulator narrative so don't bother if you're not into that. But if you are, this is a very lovely walk unfurling a very touching story and bursting with imagination.

I do think it could have been clearer at the beginning in setting up the characters, because I had only a hazy idea who was who for longer than I should have, but I had it all sorted by the end. In the meantime I was propelled forward by the lovingly detailed and often spectacular environments and the brisk pace. If any one location bores you, in five minutes you'll be through the next door to some place totally different. And I often cracked a smile at the creative choices (and flavors of Myst's art design unleashed to its full potential) or nodded in recognition of the familiar struggles of artistic minds. This isn't a perfect game, but it's clearly a very personal one, and I recommend it for that reason above all else.

8-bit_gaming
8-bit_gaming

zed has a great story. while it is short its also not a full price game so its a bit unfair to judge it by those standards
but even so i care more about how much i enjoy a game.
i buy plenty of movies because they are good why not a game.
i have never understood all the hate this type of game has gotten for 30 years and counting.
if this is your type of game you will most likly enjoy it

krylke
krylke

Absolutely terrible VR implementation. Every time i reach a new room the screen is black and i have to restart. Its riddled with bugs. It was so terrible in VR i actually started playing it on flat screen. Started playing on my screen and i cant even change settings because i cant reach the accept button. Was this game even tested?

Chaz.M.Sandcrags
Chaz.M.Sandcrags

Ultimately, I would recommend this game, due to the great visuals. However, I found the looking for objects to be tedious, and the impact of the story was a bit lost on me. Maybe I'm missing something, but the "inner voice" was too loud and I didn't see a way to decrease that volume.

It's not a game so much as a walk-through story.

mad*scientist
mad*scientist

Fantastically imaginative, surreal and unique.

Imanoldgamer
Imanoldgamer

I have been a fan of Cyan games since the first Game of Myst. I don't know why others did not like this game, but I enjoyed it. As an engineer, I too have created many things that others have taken credit for and that leaves a sour taste behind. We all have regrets in our lives and have to live with them.
The game started off just like Myst. No information, Not directions, no stated goals, but it did not take long to figure out what was needed and how to get there. The narration was spot on and I thought the voice actor portraying the young boy sounded whimsical and excited, just like a child of summer. The adult voices sounded tired and frustrated, just as most adults do. Outstanding!
The story had just the right amount of nostalgia without getting too deep, but I thought the relevancy in the train station was lacking (the only fault I found.)
The music ans graphics are excellent.
Keep up the great work. I look forward to your next game.

Floxy Puffin
Floxy Puffin

Beautiful and unfinished. Still recommend it. Found myself wanting to see what they were going to do with the full game.

brantgurga
brantgurga

I played ZED to support the developer having been involved with Myst and other Cyan projects. While the graphics and story were interesting, it falls short in duration and puzzles. It's mostly walking sim with 4 collectibles in each scene and a 9 segment jigsaw puzzle between segments.

hepzighyll
hepzighyll

Interesting to explore & find the objects never knowing where you'll end up next! Good non-violent game

VulGerrity
VulGerrity

Wow...well...the other reviews were right, and this is very disappointing coming from something that Cyan put their name behind. It is nothing like a Cyan game. This is not at all a puzzle game. It's barely an interactive story. It's voice overs while you try to find all the things you can click on in a space before the game will let you move to the next area. Oh, sure there's some rudimentary slider/jigsaw type puzzles...but they're simple enough for a child...The story, nor environments are enough to save this game from it's incredible lack of game play. The game does nothing to get me to care about the characters; instead, it seems to manipulate you into caring based on the premise that the main character has some sort of degenerative brain disorder.

I'm a huge Cyan Stan...but woof...pass on this game....