Venineth

I was really torn on this review, but I can't in good faith recommend Venineth. There's a gem in the rough here. The vibes are impeccable, the soundscape is dreamlike, it's an audiovisual feast. But the gameplay has a lot of issues. For the first couple levels it's absolutely fine. You get to go fast and feel free. There's almost a zen-like quality to rolling through these alien landscapes. But the further you get, the more platforming you have to do, and the design flaws begin rearing their ugly head. I'm not gonna lie, the platforming is bad. The ball controls are slippery, clunky and have really awkward physics and momentum retention. It takes 5 business days to actually come to a stop, and landing at the wrong angle will sometimes launch you sideways. This does NOT pair well with platforming sections that require precise jumps and maintaining perfect balance on slopes. Halfway through the game the zen feeling got stripped away and replaced with frustration. At this point even the level design begins feeling a bit sloppy, with some platforms that are just too high to reach with your jump and basically requires wrestling with the janky physics. I kept coming back to this game…

This game is a very original and intriguing take on the marble racing genre. It really commits to the alien setting and atmosphere. Even the controls feel a little alien, which can make the ball a little tricky to control though. I haven't finished the game yet, but I've really enjoyed it so far, and am looking forward to the ending! (Btw, I found out about this game from Jacob Geller's YouTube chanel, the video titled "Tetris Effect and Other Games with Immaculate Vibes", if you want to find out more before trying out the game for yourself. Don't worry, this is not a game where you need to be worried about spoilers.)

Venineth devs: "What if we took Super Monkey Ball, got rid of the monkey, and put it in a place like Riven or something? Maybe aliens, IDK? Also make it really frustrating from time to time." Beautiful, weird, chill, and yet still pleasantly maddening.

limbs are overrated

Short Summary: Good Rolling marble game but the game is too long, has a few basic game-related issues (level length,design,etc). £15 as well. I wish there was an option to give a game, a "Neutral Review". I say this because, the game is good. The cosmos environments are really the highlight of the game, and gameplay (for the most part) is decent. The problems with this game are as followed: Sometimes ( personally I feel) the levels go on for way too long, you may take 30-40 minutes to finish one level, when it should be half this. Numerous times throughout the game, I didn't know where to go, so that's an error on behalf of the level designers. The physics of the ball I don't really like too much, they feel a bit too weighty and sometimes it feels like the ball is like controlling a fast-moving car, - at high speeds you can't turn that well, and it take's a bit of distance for it to stop, however, this is just a personal annoyance. But the biggest grievance is the length of the game. At the time of writing, I'm 10hrs in, with three levels left, I would have finished Batman Arkham Asylum in the same time. Can you believe that! I think this game should be at …

Best marble Game there is. I love the creative worlds, it´s challenging but not unfair.