Vane Reviews
Vane comes across as an interesting concept, yet a light one that lacks polish.
The industry can always use more risky passion projects like this, even if they don’t always reach their full potential.
In the pursuit of crafting an indistinguishable game world and granting advanced levels of autonomy, the developers forgot to make Vane any fun to play.
Featuring deep puzzle solving mechanics, a unique graphical style, and a tale that will leave you guessing until the very end, it’s definitely a game worth experiencing at some point. The technical issues and bugs currently present at the time of release really do hold Vane back from being a good game to just being mediocre, and that’s unfortunate.
Vane is beautiful in its expression. Players will find themselves stunned by the world the game depicts, but, unfortunately, the title seems to be an expression of style over substance. Vane looks and often sounds amazing, but the developer has pursued making a work of art at the expense of something that is fun to play. Overall, Vane could certainly be considered a work of art. Nevertheless, though it was clearly aiming to be the next Shadow of the Colossus, it hits wide of the mark, as Vane lacks the depth and impact of that classic title.
Vane may have strived to create an immersive experience for gamers, but its technical flaws leave it feeling disjointed and unpolished. It feels like a disappointment for what it could have been and it is hard to recommend the game in its current state.
It's very clear where Vane draws it's influence from, the problem is that despite beeing a beautiful a project with satisfactory puzzles, it can not at any time reach the level of its predecessors, and worse than that, it inherits from these projects a bunch of technical problems that here are even worse. There are very good things inside VANE, but the sum of its factors does not result in anything remarkable.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Vane’s arresting visual design, inventive mechanics, compelling environmental storytelling, and tense, viscous atmosphere converge to create a truly exceptional experience and PS4’s first essential exclusive of the year.
Vane is an enjoyable journey through a desolate world with the occasional issue with camera controls and glitches that cause you to lose minutes of progress. Despite, its flaws there is something to discover within the game. But at less than two hours worth of content, one can’t justify the twenty-five dollar price tag.
Though Vane did not hit any mark for it to be considered good, we can only wonder what’s next for Friend & Foe, and hope that the developers understand that gamers want to not only be challenged intellectually but to also attain an experience they will always remember.
Vane awakens the hope for an exciting, gloomy gaming experience in the style of Inside or Journey, but ultimately fails in the implementation and also offers hardly any fresh ideas over his short playing time.
Review in German | Read full review
For as beautiful as Vane looks and sounds, and for as exhilarating as the flight can sometimes be, there are so many barriers to your enjoyment of this title. Friend & Foe have poured so much into the experience but have forgotten the fact that we also need to interact with it.
Vane is game that has much potential, It has the feel of The Last Guardian to it and that in itself is a reason to want to like this game. The incredible visual style and the haunting 80s synths soundtrack adds buckets of atmosphere. It’s just a shame that the game is so obtuse for its own good.
Vane lasts 4 hours, and if we have to compare all the elements we defined till now in the review, sadly, we can’t promote this game. The whole product is chaotic, cause of bugs, a questionable gameplay, and a bad camera management…It’s not easy to be satisfied just by a pleasant graphic design and a great soundtrack.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Vane could have been an amazing experience, since it is based on some great ideas, but it seems that the developers didn't have the budget to materialize them.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Vane is one of those games that have a lot of great ideas but doesn't execute them in a very compelling way. The game has a beautiful art direction but doesn't take advantage of its own mechanics which at the end, make the game feel pretty underwhelming.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
When all was said and done, I had only spent five to six hours in total with the game (perhaps seven if you count the first hour of lost progress). While some may take issue with this, keep in mind that with a price tag of just $24.99, buying this game is comparable to seeing one or two really good movies. Or if you prefer, think of it as taking five or six hours to stroll through a special art exhibit. I can say that in my experience with it, it certainly strengthened my opinions about video games and the art world. Had the game been slightly longer and had it been free from some of the technical issues with its gameplay, I could easily have seen myself giving this a 5/5. Keeping in mind that those bugs can be addressed with future patches and updates, I’m happy to settle with a 4 instead (though it really deserves a 4.25). Vane is currently available for digital download on the PlayStation Store. If you enjoy artistic puzzle games and you’ve been looking for something new and unique, you will enjoy this game.
If you love pretentious indie games then you may enjoy Vane but those just looking to have fun will likely get irritated with it.
Vane is an experience filled with intrigue and mystery, but it’s held back by some technical issues. One can’t help but feel that it could’ve used some more time in the oven. That said, despite its issues, it’s better than the sum of its parts and worth checking out by fans of Team ICO’s past work.
Vane is a different game. It does not present an interesting story, but it ends up delivering a unique experience of seeing the world from above through the view of a crow. Even though it has some serious technical problems and gets the player lost in some moments, Vane manages to make the player have some fun while solving some puzzles and trying to understand what happens to that world.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review