Faraway, the puzzle game from another era by the creator of Eliss – PC Review

In 2009, Californian game designer Steph Thirion released his game Eliss on iOS devices, which quickly became a cult classic in the mobile sector. A few years later, he presented his new project, Faraway, but then it disappeared without a trace. Until today. Releasing in a few days on PC and consoles, the title looks exactly like that brief teaser shown way back in 2010. Since then, the world of indie games has made giant strides; will it still manage to stand out?

Faraway is a minimalist puzzle game characterized by an arcade feel. As a comet drifting through space, we will have to connect the largest number of stars with our trail to form constellations, whose complexity will inflate the score multiplier and allow us to stay alive longer. The only condition to keep in mind is that trajectories cannot cross.

We will not have direct control over the comet, which will fly straight into the unknown, but we can decide when to be attracted by a nearby star, and then detach ourselves in the direction and at the speed we deem most appropriate based on the orbit. That's it: a single environment to navigate, a single button for the entire kit available, infinite possibilities on where and how to show off your skills.

Faraway is a title that rewards the player's creativity and quick reflexes, and is easily approachable thanks to a basic interface and intuitive controls. The main mode, Faraway itself, is the springboard to access the package's content, from online leaderboards to secondary challenges. Connecting numerous stars in quick succession is quite simple, but the most lucrative bonuses are obtained by creating closed figures and internal cycles.

It's not an immediately clear practice, but we can learn it in the Echoes and Ascent levels, unlocked by obtaining a certain amount of points in Faraway. The former introduces advanced techniques and allows for calm practice by following the "dotted line," without timers or attempts. In the latter, however, we will have to cash in with a single constellation, using what we learned shortly before. Each trial lasts a few seconds, at most a few minutes if the ideal solution doesn't immediately come to mind, in line with the bite-sized nature of the experience. If you get the hang of it, a couple of hours are enough to see everything, after which you can spend entire days improving your records.

However, by continuing to play and pursuing increasingly efficient routes, a major limitation emerges, due to the design choices made. The philosophy of using a single button works well with the original smartphone concept, however, now that we are on more "cumbersome" systems, mostly fixed, it would not be unwelcome to have more options during gameplay. Since we can only turn the gravitational attraction of nearby stars on or off, the decision of which of these will act as a pivot is up to the game, which will aim for the most "optimal," at least according to it. The problem is that its plans often do not coincide with ours, especially when navigating compact formations, ruining the pattern we were composing. Annoying in Echoes, enough to ruin a run in Faraway, where we have seconds counting down. Scrolling through the stars within range would make the creative process much more comfortable.

Similarly, being able to change the comet's speed wouldn't be bad. True, this would undermine the momentum mechanism linked to the orbit. Furthermore, the average speed determines the overall difficulty, which we can modify in the settings. However, it is also true that we can intervene on this option whenever we want, and the procedural generation of levels sometimes does not look kindly on supersonic objects arriving from random angles. Having at least the possibility to brake would be welcome, so as to better manage the trajectory in the most intricate sections and avoid, again, wasting precious seconds.

Circumventing gameplay restrictions is an integral part of the fun, and many will probably quickly find their rhythm, but in my opinion, fighting against a rigid control system and arbitrary failures is only a source of frustration, especially when the title presents itself as a quick pastime and relies on a minimalist presentation and enveloping atmospheres.