Vane Reviews
The new PlayStation 4 exclusive third-person adventure Vane is broken, ploddingly slow, and completely confused about what it's trying to do.
Though it boasts a resoundingly striking aesthetic, a haphazard save system coupled with a raft of glitches and a misjudged waypoint system all manage to tarnish what should have been one of the first major indie darlings of the year. Vane is simply too frustrating to recommend in its current form.
Vane exists in an enormously stressed and jagged world of puzzle-platforming. Simply moving around feels rough and unfinished, and that's not always on purpose. If only Friend & Foe had more time to incubate its creation.
Vane is a unique, almost-therapeutic experience with a magical world to explore. Unfortunately, the controls are pretty awful. If you can deal with that major issue, though, you'll find a somewhat worthwhile adventure.
The art of a game, however distinctive, matters little if it isn't accompanied by functionality.
Initially intriguing by his artistic direction, mysterious in its final, and even if it has the good idea to offer the happiness of being a bird, Vane goes from meditative to painful far too fast, served by a technique too much weak in regard to its size and a lack of sensation, which it does not manage to tie the bottom and the form of its experiment.
Review in French | Read full review
Despite the magnificent aesthetic inspiration and the stunning overall atmosphere, Friend & Foe is unfortunately no Team ICO (especially concerning some of the key aspects that make a video game worth playing): as a result Vane is an imperfect, uneven and at times even excruciating adventure. But also one that, along with its lows, is still capable of memorable, evocative highs.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Vane has a great premise, but it's overshadowed by glitches, bugs, graphics bugs, and a wild camera.
Review in German | Read full review
Vane lets players shift from the form of a bird to a child as they explore a strange, hallucinatory world set to a fantastic synth soundtrack. But what starts as a liberating flight through a vast desert eventually devolves into a linear trek through cramped corridors. Vane is a strange, haunting game that deserves attention, but it abandons its most interesting ideas too early on.
Vane's first fifteen minutes are amazing. Then the game plummets in quality faster than a diving bird. Tons of glitches, obtuse puzzle, terrible controls, an awful camera, and stuttering frame rate keep Vane from being worth your time.
While visually impressive at times, Vane suffers from an unclear purpose and far too many technical issues to recommend it.
Vane is an interesting, beautiful, and provocative indie platformer brought down by design inconsistencies and bugs, but fans of the genre will find something to like here.
Like the pearlescent shimmer across its desert surface, Vane is difficult to observe and define with precise clarity. Its world presents either an invitation to wonder or a provocation to explore and it's often seized by the tension pulling in opposing directions. Vane can be brilliant and subversive or confusing and frustrating and it's impossible to separate its intentions from its misfortunes.
Vane has a nice art style but with boring gameplay and tons of bugs.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Like so much fine art, this piece loses its luster when you start to dissect and interpret it. So don't. Because it's fucking dope
Overall, this game lacks any specific direction beyond what you have to figure out for yourself. You get no introduction to the character or the situation they face. There are game breaking bugs and things that cause frustrations that make someone not want to play the game anymore. That being said, this game has good environments and music. The game is now available on PlayStation 4 and is priced at $24.99 USD. If you like clunky, buggy games that look good but make you fight for any meaningful fun then this game is for you. I would not pay the price for this game though and would wait for a sale or even just watch YouTube videos if you are interested in it.
This game won't be for everyone. A short playtime and lack of instruction of what to do or where to go, coupled with a range of annoying little glitches, may cause many to get frustrated. However the overall look and atmosphere is incredible. You'll want to explore each location in order to enjoy the game because the pleasure we get from a journey is perhaps more dependent on the mind-set that we travel with, than on the destination we travel to.
Vane is an enigmatic game about the force of union and the silent sacrifice of living beings. It looks like an Early Access game, with bugs, glitches and an unnerving slow pace. Sometimes presents a wonderful world where the sense of solitude is the key to understand what Friends & Foe wanted to tell in their obscure and strange story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The industry can always use more risky passion projects like this, even if they don’t always reach their full potential.
A beautiful world begging to be explored falls victim to unclear direction and clunky controls making for a disaster instead of a delight.