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Vessel
PC (Steam)
Hydrodynamics!
4.5/5 stars
“Vessel” is the inaugural release of Seattle-based Indie developer, Strange Loop Games. As stated on Strange Loop’s website, their goal in independent game development is to use the overwhelming power of modern PC hardware for more than just shiny graphics – instead the folks at Strange Loop want hardware to power gameplay. This is a completely honorable position to take, and only realistic for an Indie developer, as Big Gaming is far too invested in selling realism to the mainstream. Anymore it seems like the only reason anyone ever buys (or needs to buy) new PC hardware is for games that are too graphically intense to run on older machines. Could “Vessel” successfully challenge this status quo?
Presentation
“Vessel” is built in a custom game engine that utilizes the popular 2.5D style of graphics, in which an entirely 2D game is built from a mixture of 2D rasters and 3D polygons layered in front of each other. All of the graphics, be they 2D or 3D, look sharp and clean with vibrant colors where they are needed and drab colors where they are not, providing the game’s steampunk world with environments filled equally with rusted metal, old stone, blue skies, and green trees. True to Strange Loop’s vision, there isn’t really a whole lot to say about the graphics in their game engine other than that they look pleasant and work.
The music is also interesting. Strange Loop seems incredibly proud of the fact that Jon Hopkins composed the soundtrack for “Vessel.” I’ve never heard of him, but apparently he’s important? My impressions of the soundtrack were that it is almost too muted and disappears from conscious perception. Instead of the music, I found myself much more focused on the audio cues coming from the game’s puzzles as sound effects.
Technically, “Vessel” is fairly solid, but does have a few glitches. Sometimes these are minor graphical glitches that show a part of a steampunk mechanism where is cannot be (and actually isn’t). Sometimes the screen flickers for a second. Other times the glitches are far more dangerous, resulting in a puzzle becoming unsolvable until the player reloads a previous save (which isn’t really an issue, since the game autosaves frequently, each time in a different slot). The weirdest glitch I encountered was one in which one of the primary gameplay mechanics (the watertank) glitched to show that I had a negative amount of fluid in it, which allowed me to shoot AND suck an infinite amount of that fluid (this glitch went away upon reloading the game, as usual).
Story
“Vessel” has an interesting narrative, especially for an Indie 2D platformer. Set in a steampunk world of infinite industrialization and progress for its own sake, an inventor by the name of M. Arkwright has become famous for revolutionizing the manufacturing process with his invention: The Fluro. Fluros are a hybrid of the alchemy-inspired homunculus and the steampunk-inspired robot, being artificial creatures formed from water and controlled by a mechanical eye at their core.
The main story in “Vessel” begins when an epidemic of Fluro malfunctions sees Arkwright locked out of his lab. After a brief tutorial section that introduces the player to Arkwright’s basic movement controls, he regains access to his lab and sets about creating a useful gadget to help him in solving the mystery of the malfunctioning Fluros: a “Super Mario Sunshine” style waterpack that allows him to shoot water (and other fluids) or suck them into a tank on his back.
Using this waterpack, Arkwright must visit three neighboring facilities near his lab and repair their Fluro installations. In the process, however, he discovers that the Fluros are ‘evolving’ in ways that are outside of their original programming, interacting with fluids besides water and developing behaviors besides obsessive button-pressing. As the mystery deepens, Arkwright begins to ponder the true nature of the Fluros as well as the true nature of life itself.
The narrative in “Vessel” is revealed primarily through Arkwright’s journal entries that appear at the beginning of each chapter (these also give the player hints about new gameplay mechanics). While the story is a little sparse on the narrative and definitely lacking in snazzy cutscenes, I found it to be interesting, moderately thought-provoking, and a good enough reason to keep Arkwright moving forward for the ~12 hours of the game’s duration. The ending is definitely an interesting twist, but is also unfortunately short and vague.
Gameplay
“Vessel” is a so-called ‘puzzle-platformer’ that takes the focus off of the traditional 2D platformer gamplay mechanic of not falling into bottomless pits by mistiming a jump and replaces it with a focus on puzzles. Most of these puzzles involve pressing buttons or moving levers with the goal of opening a doorway that leads to… the next puzzle. Thankfully, as a platformer at its core, “Vessel” supports (and actually encourages the use of) an Xbox 360 controller. It’s good that developers are at least able to recognize that PC gaming can be better with a controller, even in the face of raging PC Master Race elitists.
“Vessel” takes place across three major areas, each with a different theme: a factory, an orchard, and a mine. After acquiring the waterpack in the tutorial section, Arkwright continues to acquire new power-ups as the player progresses through the game, including additional fluid tanks that allow him to hold more types of fluid than just water, several varieties of Fluro seeds that allow him to create a variety of Fluros on-demand, and several different waterpack nozzles that must be developed back at the lab by expending protoplasm – a mysterious fluid that serves as “Vessel’s” collect-a-thon McGuffin. As he makes his way through each Fluro-infested area, Arkwright must reactivate a number of Fluro-clogged machines in order to unlock the blast doors blocking access to each area’s central control room (and boss battle).
There are actually surprisingly few things in the game that can kill Arkwright: falling doesn’t harm him, nor do most of the fluids. When Arkwright is hit with something harmful, like lava, the edges of the screen redden in typical modern FPS fashion, only to fade as he avoids damage – yes, “Vessel” is a 2D platformer with regenerating health! And it works quite well! There are, of course, insta-kill situations, like spikes, but there is no ‘lives’ system in the game, and Arkwright simply respawns at the closest checkpoint… which is usually right at the beginning of the puzzle he was working on when he died.
Since the gameplay focuses primarily around button-and-switch puzzles, it needs an interesting gimmick to make it stand-out. “Vessel’s” gimmick is, of course, fluid dynamics. Much like Q-Games’ “PixelJunk Shooter” and its sequel, “Vessel” utilizes the power of modern hardware to simulate the physics of fluids in motion. Outside of the fluid dynamics mechanic, “Vessel” also incorporates basic computer logic behavior into its puzzles. Since each type of Fluro performs exactly one type of behavior, it’s up to the player to guide Arkwright into choosing the correct type of Fluro in each situation, use fluids, lighting, and other environmental attributes to coerce the Fluros into doing what the player wants, and utilizing platforming skills to get the timing right for the whole thing. It’s a solid fusion of platforming and puzzles that works well, remains consistently interesting and fun, and provides a constant trickle of novel upgrades to keep the gameplay from becoming stale.
Overall
“Vessel” is yet another great small-developer effort that keeps the Indie torch burning even in the face of the numerous Indie duds and failed Kickstarters. “Vessel” does everything well and nothing poorly, proving that it doesn’t take hundreds of workers and millions of dollars to make a truly great videogame. Fans of platformers, finite puzzles, and the ‘PixelJunk Shooter’ games should definitely check-out “Vessel.” With Steam sales, the game is easily worth the peanuts it costs, and without Steam sales, $15 grants access to a DRM-free copy as well as a Steam key.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
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