Pneuma: Breath of Life Reviews
An engaging and quirky game that packs some intriguing puzzles... as well as some that are almost too easy to solve. The narration sometimes feels like it's trying just a little too hard for its own good, but the overall experience Pneuma: Breath of Life delivers is an enjoyable one.
Pneuma is a first-person puzzler, with some amazing looking graphics at times due to its use of Unreal Engine 4. But thats all the game has going for it. Throughout the story you are led to believe you are like a “god,” but you internally question some things that are going on, such as the existence of certain features in your own world. During most of the puzzles the character gives you a little hint on how you should solve each one. But I quickly became annoyed by the mellow and monotonous tone of his voice, so I essentially tuned him out. As you might imagine, this can make each future puzzle more difficult since you’re virtually not getting the one provided hint. That said, if you are good at this type of game, the hints are probably not needed until you make significant progress. Most of the initial puzzles are simple, requiring that you look at an eye to open a door, create sound, or just pull a lever. However, once you get further into the game, listening to the “god’s” monologue is must. At one point it took me awhile to figure out that I just had to sit and stare at a sundial to complete the puzzle – all because the only character in the game had almost immediately lost my attention.