About SoulShatters Test Place:
You play as Eva, a space engineer who just arrived at Europa’s station. For some reason, the crew has abandoned the station, and you are alone with the station’s AI Tom. The station is shielded with The Turing Test, a series of tests that can only be solved by humans. This in order to prevent AI control outside the station. It’s clear that either the crew abandoned the station, or that Tom shut them out. Either way, Tom needs you to solve The Turing Test, and you need to find out what happened. The Turing Test TTT consists of puzzles with replaceable power orbs. The orbs can power doors, elevators, actuators, or create paths for you to walk across. You carry a handgun that can store up to three orbs. They last collected orb has to be fired first, and that matters because there are different orbs. Blue orbs create constant power, while green and purple give intermittent power opposite of each other. And red orbs give power for a short time. Thoughts Gameplay The first comparison my mind makes, is ‘something like portal!’, but such a comparison is a bit unfair since I regard Portal as masterpiece. And indeed, the puzzles never get very complicated. This game doesn’t have the element of momentum, so it has one dimension less, this is much more a ‘normal’ game. Nevertheless I liked it a lot! The game looks good, and rooms have a nice atmosphere. The orb mechanic is simple, but works well. The fact that it’s very clear where orbs go makes it easy. Story I just love good AI morality stories! Combined with a space setting, and I am hooked from the first minute! Sure, it’s a subject that has many many tales written about it, but I can’t be saturated with them! This particular story has some unique elements, so it’s not a simple mixture of 2001: a space odyssey, Terminator, Bladerunner, Star Trek TNG, and many more. The concept of TTT reminds me of the Voight-Kampff test in Bladerunner. I don’t quite understand that AI can’t solve the puzzles in this game, but I can live with that. A serious flaw of the game is that a big part of the story is hidden inside the optional rooms. The optional rooms push the limits, and the very first one I still don’t understand. Hiding key parts of the story in there is just bad in my opinion. I enjoyed TTT greatly. Slightly below a classic for me! 83/100 More reviews at Omnivore Gamer, games that are easy to control (for handicapped gamers).
