The Plane Effect

The Plane Effect

Innovina/StudioKiku · 2021 · Isometric, Atmospheric, Adventure, Dystopian , Horror

PC
Mixed61% · 6268Metacritic
Best price 38 Fair price
$3.75-75%
$14.99lowest tracked $0.89
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Standard Edition · DRM-Free
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Screenshots

About The Plane Effect

A time-and-mind bending adventure game...
It's your final day at the office, it is time to clock out and return home - loomed over by a cosmic anomaly with an oppressive, otherworldly force. Helpless over the cosmos, all you know is that you must return to your family, as soon as you can.
Find your way home by any means...
As you progress through the dystopic cityscape, you quickly you realise all is not as it should be. Did it always take this long? Were the streets always a labyrinth? Where even is "home"? All you know is that you must keep pushing ever onwards, you must keep going.
Navigate through a dystopian society
Navigate beautifully and elaborately designed, otherworldly environments and solve unusual puzzles to keep Solo moving through each area. Players have the option to figure out puzzles step-by-step with no hints, or activate a little guidance on your impossible journey through 'Assisted-Mode'.
A sinister presence follows
Keep Solo moving. Onwards, to his family, back home. Do not stop, do not turn back.

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

✦ AI summary

The Plane Effect impresses with its art direction and unique visual style, but frustrates players with obscure puzzle logic that often requires walkthroughs, tedious backtracking that breaks immersion, and slow movement mechanics that feel like a slog. While some appreciate the quirky atmosphere and relaxing pace, most players find the non-intuitive solutions and frequent bugs make the experience feel more like tedious work than enjoyable gameplay.

Not recommended Jul 11, 2023
tldr; 2 of 5 (ouch!), can't recommend I fell for the visuals and concept and made the mistake of hoping the combination would make for a great game. They make for great visuals and concept. I would still stand by both, if the game were in development. I'm an achievement hound and I got this game on sale, so I'll finish trudging through it. However, I'm only about 2/3 through, and it very often feels incredibly slow and tedious. That's not fun; that's [b]work[/b]. The game's impressive potential is ruined by multiple cardinal no-nos: [u]Movement[/u] is incredibly slow. Imagine running through hip-deep mud, and you can't speed up. Then you get a leg cramp. It's that kind of slow. [u]Backtracking[/u] is used frequently and often nonsensically. [u]Crazy thinking/nonlogic[/u] - I've encountered puzzles where it seems that I can't pick up an item and keep it in inventory until I first discover [i]where it will be used.[/i] Nah. Sorry. If I can pick it up, I can pick it up. It's not magically attached to whatever surface it's on until I see where it's supposed to go. That's sloppy. [hr][/hr] Visuals and concept: 8 of 10 Execution of game mechanics: oh, man. Can I put a swear word?…
4 found this helpful
Recommended Jun 3, 2022
[h1]Stranger [strike]Things[/strike] Inside[/h1] [b]The Plane Effect (TPE) is... weird walking quest. [/b] Its character unsuccessfully tries to pick up an item, sighs heavily, walks in a room, only to trigger the script which [i]now[/i] allows him to pick up the item. Hello backtracking! [b]50% meh, 50% wat?![/b] Ok, so I played TPE in a mode w/o hints. Not a single one. Several chapters were mocking my brain: How on earth would I figure that disabling electric arc is possible by sitting in a chair? Fine, I agree that a magnet is the way to fish out fallen keys. I'm okay with solving a melody puzzle. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811477946 But eating mushrooms? Drone fight? Driving slowly to avoid attention? TPE puzzles either test your observation (patterns written on floor, papers), or encourage to try different combinations, until you either advance or die. That's how you learn "nope, not doing this again". https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812695641 [b]No levels selection[/b] Veeery questionable decision, especially having levels' related missable achievements. Well, save files backup exist! But, TPE chapters are all differe…
3 found this helpful
Not recommended Jul 7, 2026
The art style in this game is stunning and I really love the interesting environmental design, there was clearly a lot of thought and effort put into this game. I found the dream-like story intriguing and was constantly trying to work out what the meaning behind everything could have been. All in all it had a lot of potential. I have to leave a negative review though because despite everything it just wasn't fun to play. Like many other reviews have mentioned, there is a lot of backtracking. You're always running back and forth to pick up items in a very specific order for no discernible reason, which gets boring and frustrating pretty quickly. It makes puzzle solving and general gameplay feel a lot more drawn out than necessary, giving it a forced slow pace. This was my biggest issue with the gameplay, but I did also struggle a bit with some of the platforming due to the awkward camera angle making depth perception a bit weird. Having gameplay hints was helpful at times but I honestly think the biggest improvement that could be made with this game is just making it so you can pick up items in any order. It's painful having to walk past an item you can't pick up yet to find t…
Recommended Jan 29, 2025
This game will change your life and the perspective of it.
Not recommended Jan 26, 2023
I really enjoyed this indie game but I faced a critical bug in a level called "Event Horzion" at that moment [spoiler]when you have to pull down the yellow batteries and jump below to save yourself from explosion.[/spoiler] I didn't realize what to do at first and now it's unplayable. [spoiler]The robot doesn't appear near the batteries, I can't grab the yellow battery on my back and the explosion happens as soon as I pull down the batteries. The shield around you doesn't disappear and I die everytime. I tried to repeat the same actions to "enable" this cutscene by distracting the robot that needs to appear there with the nearest to itwhite button that turns red but nothings happens.[/spoiler] I will change this review if you are able to troubleshoot this.
Recommended Apr 4, 2022
way to relaxing

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