Proteus joins the ranks of other video games that aim to offer an artistic exploration experience rather than traditional gaming. Like others in this gaming niche though it still manages to offer an impressive, immersive and engaging adventure as you explore a randomly generated game world. With no other objective other than to take the time to enjoy your surroundings players can create their own stories from adventuring over hills or finding new unique biomes.
If you enjoy going on exploration adventures in other games that feature random generation at the core of their experience and often find yourself embarking on random quests across landscapes you’ll find that Proteus will no doubt keep you entertained. Players that need the supporting structure of other objectives in a video game won’t quite enjoy Proteus nearly as much though which isn’t a fault of the game but rather the genre broadly.
Gameplay wise Proteus is focused around exploring the beautiful world one step of scenery. The landscapes themselves at the heart of this are impressive and the interactions that you have with the wildlife that you will encounter are equally enjoyable. A dynamic soundtrack that reacts to triggers in your exploration combines with these features seamlessly to only add to the immersion and artistic experience.
To support this further Proteus is free from text and interface, instead focusing on providing a seamless experience that almost borders on a form of meditation with this design. The graphics of Proteus are definitely part of this experience and somehow offer a unique mixture of basic 2D and 3D while also being adhering to the artistic principles. Rather than having to recount your adventures to other players Proteus supports sharing with ease so you don’t have to keep your memorable moments to yourself with an in game postcard feature to share your snaps of the Proteus landscapes you discover.
Beyond what has been discussed here the game of Proteus is hard to describe and even harder to put the experience into words. This is both because it’s unique in the gaming world and also the randomised generation ensures you’ll likely experience vastly different encounters to others. Despite the simplicity it’s an enjoyable experience that will offer many hours of exploration despite the fact that it does not have any goals, enemies or even general objectives.
For those players that don’t mind these lacking elements and in fact thrive in these settings with a randomly generated game world waiting to be explored before them Proteus is worth trying.
Summary:
- Unique game idea without any direction or goals and instead built around a randomly generated game world of plants and wildlife.
- Simply take in the world around you as you make your own choices on how and where you explore the diverse biomes.
- A dynamic music system that changes with the game flow to add another layer of random mechanics.
- Postcard feature lets you share your unique experiences with other Proteus players.
- Explore and enjoy across Windows, Mac, Linux, PS Vita and PS3 platforms.
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Review Platform: PC