Ether One

Ether One nails its puzzles, atmosphere, and sound (ambient and voice acting). It also nails its story — whether or not you decide to fully unravel its world and its mysteries — culminating in a, well, refreshing, smart finale that will stay on my mind for years to come.

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Ether One is a fine addition to the burgeoning exploration genre, with a basic path to follow if you just want to be told a story and see a beautifully designed world, puzzles to add more meat than we usually see in its contemporaries, and enough company via voiceover to take much of the loneliness out of the solitary wander. It's not a cheery story, but it's one well told and worth at least the three or so hours it takes to appreciate without the sometimes unintuitive puzzles, or as long as they take to solve.

For fans of the “point and click” game template, Ether One is surely not one to miss. The game may have some glaring issues – the inventory system is far from perfect, and the lack of a map to navigate labyrinthine areas can make the experience more frustrating than it should be – and the technical difficulties are hard to ignore, but whilst far from perfect, beyond the glitches and frustrations lies a deep and thought-provoking game, laden with rewarding and logical puzzles. The graphical imperfections can be forgiven thanks to the varied and sometimes beautiful environments, and the storylin...

The mind is a strange, and wonderful place.  In Ether One, you take on the role of a Restorer.  You work for a medical company that deals in curing ailments, from the inside, out.  In the mind.  Your task, as the Restorer, is to delve into the memories of a person afflicted with dementia.  Rooting through old thoughts, and reliving moments, you must find the source of the ailment, and remove it, thus restoring their sanity.  But the complexity of the mind isn’t so easily remedied, and soon, your existence begins to hinder the mission.

It’s been just two days since I last player Ether One and I’ve not stopped thinking about it since. I thought about it before I went to bed last night, and the night before. I thought about it when I woke up this morning. I thought about it when I had lunch. So far I’ve sunk 12 hours into a game easily completable in four. I’ve not nearly managed to restore all of the projectors. And I’ve hardly scratched the surface.