Sephonie
Coming early 2022. Wishlist today!
Memories linger across time, deep beneath the island’s surface…
In this story-driven 3D platformer, explore Sephonie Island’s massive cave network, and link with unidentified species using the novel Puzzle Grid system. Explore the island’s depths as shipwrecked biologists Amy, Ing-wen, and Riyou, unravelling mysteries both scientific and spiritual, watched over by a supernatural being who exists beyond human history.
Sephonie is the newest game from Analgesic Productions' Marina Kittaka and Melos Han-Tani, creators of the Anodyne series and Even the Ocean!
Parkour-esque platforming
The caves of Sephonie vary wildly from lush, jade chasms to reddish flora-filled sandstone caverns. Their physical and rocky layouts demand a fitting moveset! Fling yourself over high ledges using the satisfying Teledash Vault, activate the quick-but-risky Sprint when you need to cover long distances, and deftly Wallrun across dangerous outcroppings.
When the obstacles become insurmountable, use the plants and animals of the environment to unlock powerful new abilities like soaring high jumps and swift grapples.
The Relaxing and Casual Puzzle Grid System
The trio must research the island’s unknown creatures by Linking with them. Using the one-of-a-kind “Puzzle Grid” system, you’ll rotate and place a series of multi-colored puzzle pieces onto the board, and connect large, same-colored islands. Each creature has different challenges to overcome!
There’s no ‘right’ solution to Linking: use your intuition to react to the creature’s moves and what appears on the board, and you will soon be on your way to success!
The caves are full of both small and massive creatures, each with their own importance to the cave’s ecosystem.
A Research Trip Gone Awry
In the near future, three biologists are on a joint research trip to use their ONYX implants to research the creatures of the uninhabited Sephonie Island. However, a mysterious phenomenon destroys their ship, leaving them shipwrecked.
Amy Lim, Taiwanese-American and bold leader, hails from the midwestern USA town of Bloomington. Riyou Hayashi, an analytically-minded Japanese-Taiwanese researcher, calls the bustling Tokyo his home. And Ing-wen Lin, a kind and considerate Taiwanese scientist, lives in Taipei.
The trio will find their motivations and loyalties put to the test as they navigate Sephonie’s caverns, facing not only rocks and creatures but also their deepest memories and dreams. As they grow more intimate with each other and the island, an ancient force, brewing deep in the island’s abyss, may threaten their newfound relationship, and the world…
Features
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A deep, emotional story about the close bonds of a trio, the priorities of nations, and the delicate connection of humans and nature, spanning beyond human history.
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A human experience crafted entirely by the IGF Grand Prize-nominated duo of Marina Kittaka and Melos Han-Tani, behind works such as Anodyne 1 & 2, Even the Ocean, and All Our Asias.
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Master a parkour-esque moveset to sprint, wallrun, jump, and fling yourself through Sephonie Island’s rocky and physical caverns!
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A novel and accessible Puzzle Grid System that will stretch your brain in fun ways.
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A beautiful and varied cave system filled with all manner of large and surprising creatures, visually brought to life by Marina Kittaka.
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A lush, melodic and ambient soundtrack by Melos Han-Tani.
Join us on Discord to chat about the game!
Or, join our newsletter to stay up to date on the game’s news! https://analgesic.productions/
Sephonie does not support square resolutions (Less wide than 16:10). Sephonie will run fine with these resolutions but some UI may be cut off, which you can fix by using the in-game UI Scaling option or by running the game in a 16:9/16:10 windowed resolution.
The same goes for UWHD resolutions in fullscreen.
Sephonie only officially supports certain controllers (PS4/5, XB1/XB360). Other controllers may work but functionality not guaranteed. In particular the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is NOT supported. See forum for details.
Read More: Best 3D Platformer Third Person Games.
All Our Asias
The game was quite surreal. I have gained some insight within the Asian community and addresses true feelings and doubts toward those who are mixed in race from Asia to America. Floating around the atmosphere felt interesting and intriguing, with an old PlayStation One style graphic to help set off the oddity. It’s a free too, so id day give it a try. There are a few things that could make the experience better but doesn’t set off the mood so I’d give it a 7/10.
The graphics are obviously supposed to be unintelligible but in a way gives the player a sense of what it’s supposed to be, as what PSX style is supposed to be. The environment is great, from simplistic looking geometry to image based texture. There are some places that are un-textured, but doesn’t ruin the experience and not that obvious to others who aren’t familiar with engines. I like the empty space, but I would like a bit more on the environment.
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
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Aside from the price, I was intrigued by the title and the visuals. What would this free PS1-style title about multiple Asias be about?
Truth is, after reaching the end I’m still not entirely sure.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a premise and it’s a good one, but I’m not sure I get all the plot in the middle. I found this didn’t matter though as the script was a pleasure to read; it was good quality prose and there was just about the right amount of it.
I wouldn’t say the visuals suit, but I think in “All Our Asias”, the visuals aren’t that important. This is a game where the ethereal whistle of the soundtrack can be recalled many hours later and, I don’t the have the words for it, but the mood and tempo of the game is both melodic and melancholic at the same time.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
Furgal’s Jetpack
Simply amazing runner. Funny graphics and friendly controls. Difficulty level of game made me relax and have fun. I felt in love with this awesome slavic soundtrack!
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best 3D Platformer Runner Games.
Once on Earth, an unusual baby was born … Ahem… So, what am I talking about? Oh Yes!!! Holy be our sunbeam from now on and forever and ever, Lord of all and all regions of the mother Russia, Emperor of all mankind! Once, walking in the capital city of Khabarovsk, he found one person, but not a simple one, but a local authority, the Governor Furgal Sergeyushka! Yes, as he remembered that he had placed it higher in the rating.They took Furgal to a Moscow prison and forced him to admit his guilt. But not so was Furgal and made an unknown poeben Jetpack. Now he’s trying to fly away and we’re playing for him.
– Real player with 12.2 hrs in game
Adventures in Morality: An Interactive Case Study
First to the creator(s) of the ICS, you should be aware that there appears to be a bug with the cassette recordings. Every time you find one and play it, it also plays all the ones that you have found and played before, simultaneously, making understanding anything pass the third one nearly impossible. Onto the review.
This is an interesting experience. The idea being that an AI is the one conducting the Case Study on you is both intriguing and perhaps a bit alarming and I mean both of those ideas in as to whether you accept that at face value or if you accept that as part of a fictional narrative. I was actually most interested in finding and reading the log notes about the “childhood” and growth of said AI, and I got a good snicker at the mention of bonono monkies (i dont have to google, i actually saw a N.G show on them so totally got it ;) As for the Subject of the case study, this idea of sympathy types, while the particular labels used to describe said types might be newish, the idea behind it is not. I was reading about where people fall into self, tribe, and human kind in self help and spiritual enlightenment books back in the 80’s and 90’s. And those authors were NOT representing the knowledge as something new; but, rather as something very old and mostly forgotten or purposely suppressed (Those in power naturally tend to keep those below them divided and weakened through the use of Us vs them, whether thats Individualism vs Communism or Tribalism in one form or another.) The one thing none of those authors ever did was threaten to use the knowledge being shared to bring about an apocalypse and try to divide up the world based on results of some case study. Really not sure what to make of that.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Opening video has a couple good lines.
The rest is random questions that don’t make any sense as a test of morality. Not to mention that just by walking around you get 80+ ‘Humanity’ rating.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game