Orbyss

Orbyss is a three-dimensional puzzle game set in a vibrant geometric world. Each puzzle room involves taking control of several orbs and finding the right sequence of events in order to reach the exit. The game explores the full range of its 3D possibilities, with elegant puzzles and a dazzling art direction.

Your avatar in Orbyss is a small spark of energy that can switch between orbs. Once inside an orb, you can roll it around and freely rotate the view, with both keyboard/mouse and controller supported. Some orbs you cannot take direct control of, but you can still drag them behind you, or send them to a nearby position. The orbs can be placed on receivers, activating a bridge or twisting a pipe that can help you reach new locations. The puzzles are all about finding the steps that will enable you to get a controllable orb to the end of a room, with minimal timing or platforming involved.

Many levels also feature a time station from which you can freeze the orbs. This means you can not only let an orb sit on a bridge while you activate receivers with another orb and change the state of the level, but you can also remove the bridge if you need to, and still keep that first orb in position. It will stay in mid-air for as long as you want, until you decide to move it to somewhere else.

Keeping track of the positions of the receivers, which parts of the level they help connecting, and when to stop and resume a fall, requires to build a mental representation of a complex three-dimensional space. It brings up the visualization needed in a Portal game, and combines it with multi-step sequence reasoning. Later levels double down on exploring the possibilities of 3D puzzles by introducing drones with free movement, whose trajectories can be recorded and replayed.

A generous number of optional achievements add another layer of challenge to the game. Most of them are based on clearing a room with a limited number of time freezes, or a limited number of switches between controllable orbs. These optimal solutions may involve more precise placements and tighter timings than what the main game requires.

Some levels include short sound-based puzzles, which can alternatively be solved using visual cues. While these puzzles are mostly self-contained, they’re an integral part of the atmospheric, otherworldly sound design developed for the game. The visual environments are equally immersive, with monumental geometric structures, bioluminescent mechanisms, and a shadowy source of corruption roaming this mesmerizing world.

This description was written by Oriane Tury.