14 DAY TRIAL // 
The ice cube is too high and, unfortunately, it’s not in a glass, prepped to chill a drink. This massive piece of frozen water is supposed to cover a gap between two platforms that will give me access to a big new area. But I’ve positioned it too high and there’s no way to cross it because my character is entirely unable to jump or move across an area if there’s a gap to deal with.
So I climb back up the way I went and find an outcropping from which I can fire my trusty Adjunct at the ice crane I rode here. I need to switch locations a few times until I get it into the right position to jump atop it. The bigger problem is that the crane can be moved using this socket but I cannot raise or lower the ice cube.
I have to actually take the entire platform back to an earlier point and use another socket for the Adjunct to adjust the height. I eyeball the correct placement and, once satisfied, push the entire platform the other way. It takes a little time but, when it reaches the end of the line, the ice block is right where I need it. I cross and open the bridge that will make crossing the ravine an easier process in the future.
Firmament is both developed and published by Cyan Worlds Inc. I played it on Steam on the PC, where it is also offered in a VR version. The title uses a very classic approach to the adventure genre, with three big areas for players to explore and solve puzzles in.
The player’s avatar isn’t named and wakes up in classic video game fashion in an unknown place with no memories. There’s the spirit of a woman standing there or maybe a holographic projection of one, talking about realms, Keepers, duty, and betrayal, but offering few concrete details and offering no help with the actual puzzle work.
This immaterial companion will offer some more details about the universe (always consider her line about lying to the player) and more details are uncovered via written and audio material found across the levels. I liked the writing, which aims for poetic and sometimes hits that lofty mark, but the narrative beats will be mostly familiar to fans of story-driven adventure games.
All the gameplay in Firmament flows through a tool called the Adjunct. Players get one just as their introduced to the game’s world by the woman in spirit form at the beginning. The device, which seems far beyond the capabilities of our modern world, is conceptually weird. It interfaces with sockets in the world and powers everything from doors to elevators to massive pieces of equipment.
It can do so at a distance when thrown, although the covered distance is kind of short. It will also control the massive pods that move people between the three realms and the central Swan station (this entire process could have been faster). As the number of sockets in an area increases, so does the difficulty of the puzzles. It’s often not just a matter of knowing what to do to progress but of testing a solution until all potential problems are revealed and a revised plan leads to success.
The gamer’s Keeper avatar is oddly incapable when the Adjunct is not in use. He cannot cross small gaps, he cannot jump, and he cannot climb. I understand that these limitations exist to make the grand puzzles work. But, especially given that this game is also offered in virtual reality, this is an odd limitation for a modern game. The game should at least have offered a strong in-world reason for it.
I was also hampered by stairs quite a few times. They are often hard to notice and it sometimes seemed like they were designed not to stand out. The grand scale of the game cannot always compensate for these issues, especially if they make it harder to enjoy the gameplay.
Firmament has a built-in audience of Myst fans and older gamers who loved what Cyan has previously created. They will be attuned to the designer’s quirks and will enjoy the puzzles and the world. But I think newcomers might be impressed by this world at first and will then struggle to engage with it.
Firmament will deliver some grand sights, especially impressive when players first go to the three realms they are in charge of. I liked the variety and the way the game opens up new spaces. The amount of stuff to actually interact with is much smaller and areas are designed to allow certain approaches to the puzzles. The title’s steampunk approach to style also matches its overall narrative and tone. The fact that I kept thinking of Columbia when exploring the levels reveals that there was space for more originality.
The sound design is less interesting. The places players move through are devoid of life and an often oppressive silence dominates, sometimes broken up by the voice of the spirit and by the sounds of machinery. The soundtrack never tries to fill that space and it’s not interesting enough to sustain attention. It adds to the feeling of loneliness that the game often evokes but it can also make the entire game less appealing.
The Good
- World design
- Adjunct-driven puzzles
- Awe-inspiring moments
The Bad
- Limited narrative
- Character limitations
- Hard to notice stairs
Conclusion
But these feelings do not last forever and the core gameplay loop struggles to keep players pushing forward. There’s some clever puzzle design to wrap one’s head around but there’s too much friction when it comes to the implementation of the solutions. I wanted Firmament to be more ambitious, with more twists to its narrative and puzzles that require less grunt work and more exploration of its gorgeous levels.
A review key was provided by the publisher
