Pneuma: Breath of Life
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Pneuma: Breath of Life
A solid, if thin puzzle game, with not quite as much to say as it thinks it has.
Pneuma: Breath of Life is a first-person puzzle platformer that offers an interesting mechanic, all while beating gamers over the head with a philosophical voice over.
These are intriguing times for gods in games. If the collapse of Peter Molyneux's Project Godus is an apocalyptic turn of events for the genre Populous gave life to, a new breed of "god sim" is on the march - one that seeks not to portray a god but to mechanically enact the uncertainties that make us wonder if deities exist. Breath of Life is a remarkable contribution to this highly select field. Its strength is that it looks at the same predicaments as Portal and Bioshock from a compelling angle, unburdened by lore, but it doesn't quite have the spark to be breathtaking.
Pneuma delivers a clever puzzle-solving mechanic inside of a lonely existential mystery.
An aesthetically-pleasing but decidedly empty puzzle game, Pneuma scratches an itch but fails to excite
Pneuma can appear pompous and over-reaching, and those who buy it for the puzzles alone will walk away disappointed. As a package though, it's worth checking out.
Portraying existential quandaries as gameplay puzzles is a daring idea, but ultimately this is a more enjoyable game to watch and listen to than it is to play.
Pneuma: Breath Of Life is a game that I urge you to experience. It's not perfect, but in a way that fits entirely with its own outlook, and its effectiveness as a story is both thought-provoking and surprising. Pre-conceptions aside, it is certainly an intriguing and unique title that explores elements of philosophy and life often left untouched by gaming.
