Firmament

As you wander Firmament’s splendid landscapes, the narrative builds to a heartening finale—but be prepared to strenuously exercise your brain along the way.

Firmament is a magnificent achievement in visual worldbuilding that I’m still thinking about weeks later. I’m already back in the Realms, looking for Easter eggs I may have missed the first time. My desire to learn more about Firmament’s story is a testament to Cyan’s ability to make players care about fictional worlds, and its shorter runtime and smoother puzzle mechanics make it the most approachable game in the company’s history, as well as a perfect primer for the puzzle adventure genre at large. I truly hope Cyan keeps making worlds like this for decades to come.

Firmament is clearly designed to appeal to players who loved the concept of Myst, showing them how impressive such a narrative-driven puzzle experience can be when built using modern tech. Stepping out into the three realms creates a powerful sense of wonder and there are plenty of moments when the world impresses with its scale and beauty. 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.

Firmament was an extremely meditative puzzle solving experience. I applaud Cyan Worlds for continuing to design these games without flashy ruckus, time limits, or deaths to speak of. It’s a peaceful journey through vast and mysterious lands full of wild and interesting machinery built into beautiful natural surroundings. However, as is often the case with Cyan Worlds games, Firmament is also a test of patience and sheer experimentation. You could spend extremely long periods of time stuck on a spot in this game and the only thing you can do is either quit and come back later or figure it out. Nonetheless, it presents another mystery I felt compelled to solve and I feel that other puzzle-minded players will thoroughly enjoy the variety of ways you can use the Adjunct and unlock Firmament’s secrets.

A graphically gorgeous descendant of Myst, paradoxically limited by its own ambitions.

Beautiful and streamlined puzzle, but the story drags.

Atmospheric and lushly imagined, Firmament is a joy to explore. Its unique mechanics offer a dynamic puzzle-solving experience, but the game could use more lore.

An intriguing exploratory puzzler that nails the aesthetic and the unnerving feeling of being alone. Some technical issues mar an otherwise great experience with a quirky, interesting story.

Firmament offers up another substantial slice of patently difficult puzzling that fits right in line with Cyan Worlds' other hit titles, although its VR implementation feels like an afterthought. It's undeniably a good and beautiful game, but less so across the board when played in VR.

As much as Firmament highlights the skills and importance of industrial labourers, then, it also brings with it some of the tedium of the real work - which surely wasn't part of the blueprint. [Issue#386, p.118]

The new game from the creators of Myst is a first-person puzzle adventure similar to previous titles from the developer, but its proposal is too old-school to connect with players accustomed to modern titles. Recommended for those looking for a challenge like games offered in the 90´s in a video game that does not take the player by the hand and offers a gorgeous world to explore.

Firmament is an immersive experience that facilitates a beautiful, albeit lonely world to explore. This is brought down by lacklustre storytelling and bland narration. With little to show outside of admittedly great audio and sound design, Firmament fails to hold its own amongst great puzzle games. The beautifully quiet and immersive atmosphere of a world abandoned will keep players immersed, unsettled and intrigued. Unfortunately, its tedious gameplay and puzzle-solving present a tired and uninspired experience that will have you looking towards Cyan World’s more notable titles.