Vane Reviews
Beautiful visuals and suggestive atmospheres are not enough to save Vane, whose obscure and not always working mechanics make the player feel abandoned in a poorly conceived world.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There is nothing about Vane that redeems it. This review reads like a list of complaints instead of constructive criticism because there isn't even anything to be constructive about. It's a game that's a challenge to play simply because it challenges your patience.
Six months later, Vane got rid of critical errors, but did not become a good game. A dark story about the fall of civilization, sometimes nice puzzles, beautiful landscapes of the desert world and a powerful atmosphere can not pull boring gameplay, terrible controls, empty locations, indistinct ending and the lack of adequate navigation. And this is sad.
Review in Russian | 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
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
The new PlayStation 4 exclusive third-person adventure Vane is broken, ploddingly slow, and completely confused about what it's trying to do.
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
The art of a game, however distinctive, matters little if it isn't accompanied by functionality.
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.
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.
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.
While visually impressive at times, Vane suffers from an unclear purpose and far too many technical issues to recommend it.
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
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 interesting, beautiful, and provocative indie platformer brought down by design inconsistencies and bugs, but fans of the genre will find something to like here.
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.
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
Vane has a nice art style but with boring gameplay and tons of bugs.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
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