Type Game
Date 2013-01-30
Platform
  • Windows
Tags anti-game

Proteus

A game, or maybe 'interactive art' is more like the right term. It's kind of nice. The music doesn't always seem well-suited to the environment, though.

I'll probably play it again, to see what I might have missed. I believe the island is randomly generated, each time, so it should be worth another playthrough.

Blurb

Steam Big Picture Mode


About the Game

Proteus is a game about exploration and immersion in a dream-like island world where the soundtrack to your play is created by your surroundings. Played in first-person, the primary means of interaction is simply your presence in the world and how you observe it. The procedurally generated islands are home to creatures natural and imagined, tranquil valleys and ruins with magical properties.

Key Features:

  • Meditative play: the responsive world and lack of any text or hints distils an essence of curious, investigative play, and rewards patience and immersion.
  • Dynamic soundtrack composed by award-winning musician David Kanaga follows the mood of the world and will appeal to fans of Boards of Canada, Brian Eno.
  • A distinctive 2D-but-3D graphical style with wild shifting palettes that sits somewhere between 8-bit videogames and early 20th century modernist painting.
  • Islands are uniquely generated every time, and although it's theoretically possible to see everything in one playthrough, no-one ever does.
  • Built-in "postcard" function encodes world data into each screenshot, allowing islands and discoveries to be saved and shared.
Name Role
David Kanaga Composer / Designer
Ed Key Developer / Designer

Relations

Relation Sources
Discussed in
  • Is Proteus a game -- and if not, who cares? (2013-01-30)