Pneuma: Breath of Life

 Xbox One
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 61 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 61
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 61
  3. Negative: 7 out of 61

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  1. Molloy12
    Nov 6, 2015
    3
    Pneuma is a stunningly beautiful game in sight, but disappointingly ugly in play.

    The game makes players control a character who constant dialogue about being a God gets annoying after the first chapter (which takes about 5 minutes to complete). As you move through the world looking at things to open doors, and pushing buttons, solving brainless puzzles you realize what this game is. An    Pneuma is a stunningly beautiful game in sight, but disappointingly ugly in play.

    The game makes players control a character who constant dialogue about being a God gets annoying after the first chapter (which takes about 5 minutes to complete). As you move through the world looking at things to open doors, and pushing buttons, solving brainless puzzles you realize what this game is. An easy 1000 G. The main game play can be completed in about 2 hours without a walk through, leaving only 3 achievements worth 150G combined remaining which may take additional help to complete since there is very little mention of them in the actual game. Of all the chapters the only 2 offering an actual challenge or any longevity are the final 2 chapters before the epilogue. The game is so simple up to that point that you almost feel sad for the developer who put such effort into the visuals, then cut short on sound and play. Overall this game is not worth the price for it's entertainment value, however for the month of November it is free on Xbox One with "Games With Gold" and may be worth the 2 hours for those of you who want some simple achievements.

    Visuals: 8/10 Very nicely put together. Mildly repetitive.
    Sound: 2/10 Infuriating, annoying, empty but mildly comical
    Difficulty: 4/10 Very little challenge at all aside from the near end point.
    Story: 2/10 Bland, interesting at points, but mostly straight line.
    Replay: 1/10 Other then a possible 3 missed achievements, 0 replay value.

    Total: 17/50 (3.4/10)    … Expand
  2. Wolvz
    Dec 20, 2015
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Puzzle walking sim. Light on the puzzles, heavy on the walking. Some people have already stated that this game is 'visually Stunning'. It's not, clipping graphics, bad shading, terrible rendering is masked over by the bright & light palace setting that fools people into thinking its a pretty game. Walk up to a bush or a box and look at it and it's ugly with no depth.

    But that's not the core of this game, the puzzles are. They range from ridiculously easy - a whole level dedicated to 'looking at the eyes' to horrendously impossible. The worst quzzle requires you to get to the final chapter, look at a painting, then quit go back to an older chapter, play that through again until you find another painting, then quit again going to yet again go to another chapter. Over and over. This replaying of older levels happens for no reason than to drag out the already short story. Another puzzle requires you to look at a sun-dial until to does a full rotation in about 20 seconds, if you look away or up it starts again, that one is great fun. Wow amazing puzzle designing.

    The character is annoying. Continually speaking garbage to himself or us which ever way it's meant to be. He walks slowly in each puzzle never with any suspense or sense of urgency.
    It's not a terrible game it's just not much of a game at all. There are plenty of great indie games out there with worse graphics and smaller production scales. And there's been much better Walking Sims. Try Stanley Parable for an example of better versions of these.    … Expand
  3. Rebelgut
    Jul 12, 2019
    2
    This game feels like a complete waste of time. It all seems so lifeless. There isn’t much incentive to solve the puzzles and the entire game feels like it’s lacking a depth element. The game feels so redundant and empty and the voice of your player constantly is going on and on about nonsense... practically destroying your sense of thought. This game seems like it was unfinished when theyThis game feels like a complete waste of time. It all seems so lifeless. There isn’t much incentive to solve the puzzles and the entire game feels like it’s lacking a depth element. The game feels so redundant and empty and the voice of your player constantly is going on and on about nonsense... practically destroying your sense of thought. This game seems like it was unfinished when they released it, as if something is missing.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2015
26
#26 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. Brash Games
    Jan 31, 2016
    70
    To me Pneuma: Breath of Life felt more like a taster of what could have been a huge puzzle game. Not to say the game wasn’t a success, from what we can see the game works very well with new innovative puzzles – I just wish there could have been more!
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  2. games(TM)
    Apr 12, 2015
    60
    Breath of Life will have its fervent champions, but it won't go supernova. [Issue#159, p.113]
    Read full review
  3. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Mar 28, 2015
    60
    Pneuma is let down by its waffling and insistence on shoving questions about the nature of reality down your throat. [Apr 2015, p.83]
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