E3 2015: Soul Axiom’s All About Puzzles, Pyramids, and Dreams

<p>Even in the deepest&comma; darkest corners of my mind&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve never dreamed of anything as beautifully strange as <em><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;walesinteractive&period;com&sol;&num;&excl;soul-axiom&sol;c1q1m">Soul Axiom<&sol;a><&sol;em>&period; Like a meeting of the minds behind<em> Bioshock<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Portal<&sol;em>&comma; and <em>Tron<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Soul Axiom<&sol;em> is an experience in the abstract that I could only hope to explain in any way short of sounding nuts&period; Though my first fifteen minutes with its soul-crushing riddles left me no closer to understanding<em> <&sol;em>Wales Interactive&&num;8217&semi;s psychological thriller then when I began&comma; I think I want to&period; By Big Daddy&&num;8217&semi;s drill&comma; I really want to&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Seconds past its ominous menu screen&comma; <em>Soul Axiom<&sol;em> dumped me deep in the heart of what I could only fathom was what it looked like – a &lpar;probably&rpar; ancient tomb&period; Was I buried in it&quest; Kept captive&quest; On a free tour&quest; I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t tell you&period; I could make out what looked like some slightly menacing <em>Witcher<&sol;em> medallions gazing at me from the wall and a dimly lit corridor in front of me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;85512" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-85512" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04215631&sol;Soul-Axiom-Hand-Powers-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-85512 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04215631&sol;Soul-Axiom-Hand-Powers-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Soul Axiom Hand Powers BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-85512" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Your two glowing hands&comma; uniting for a family reunion&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I walk through it and then I realize that something&&num;8217&semi;s following me&period; That boulder that barely missed Indiana Jones was coming for me&period; I raced down the hall through a string of cobwebs face first until I realize there&&num;8217&semi;s something strange with this boulder – or rather&comma; the projection of one&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s hollow&comma; computerized green sphere washes over me harmlessly and before I know it&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve haphazardly jumped down a shaft straight into another room&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I see a wall before me with the inscription&comma;&&num;8221&semi;He Has Given You Two Hands&comma; One To Give&comma; And The Other To Receive&period;&&num;8221&semi; Okay&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s weird&period; Then my hands start to glow like I&&num;8217&semi;ve just chugged one of Rapture&&num;8217&semi;s Plasmids&period; All right&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s a whole lot weirder&period; Call me intrigued&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Soon&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m overlooking a gorgeous courtyard of mystic ruins straight out of <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;AtlpAqIrKbQ">Journey<&sol;a><&sol;em> with no one to greet me&comma; the hot sun hanging high in the sky&period; Palm trees and obelisks appear before me like somewhere out of <em>Stargate<&sol;em> <em>SG-1<&sol;em> or&comma; ugh&comma; Brendan Fraser&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Mummy<&sol;em> movies&period; Egypt maybe&quest; I notice there&&num;8217&semi;s a giant sun mirror&period; A puzzle&quest; It&&num;8217&semi;s easy just to stare at in awe for just a few more moments than needed soaking in the view&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;85513" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-85513" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04215618&sol;Soul-Axiom-Wii-U-Courtyard-Puzzle-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-85513 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04215618&sol;Soul-Axiom-Wii-U-Courtyard-Puzzle-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Soul Axiom Wii U Courtyard Puzzle BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-85513" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Phase in&comma; phase out&comma; young grasshopper&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>On a technical level&comma; <em>Soul Axiom <&sol;em>has a few charms to offer&period; I can hear the pitter patter of my own footsteps and the sand under my feet&period; I silently wade through the shallow water flooding the courtyard&comma; but I&&num;8217&semi;m willing to assume it&&num;8217&semi;s part of this matrix&period; The camera offers a mild bit of whiplash&comma; but you likely won&&num;8217&semi;t be rushing anywhere often in spite of the thankful existence of a dash button with a click of the left stick&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I think back to the inscription on the wall and what would you know&excl; I can suck and un-suck my left hand with the left trigger and my right hand with the right trigger&period; Nothing here is real&comma; but not everything&&num;8217&semi;s permitted – some things have to be manipulated&period; The landscape&&num;8217&semi;s adorned with blue&comma; holographic webbing I can phase in and phase out at will with my trusty&comma; radioactive-looking hands&period; Now&comma; about that sun mirror&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There&&num;8217&semi;s a sun beam piercing the sky and I direct it back to its little mirror friends&comma; phasing them in and out in an order that seems logical&period; Low and behold&comma; I&comma; Radioactive Hands Man&comma; have earned a holo-cube booth&period; I hesitate&period; Is this a boss&quest; A trap&quest; No&quest; I reluctantly step in and am greeted with the sight of&comma; well&comma; <em>something<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;85514" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-85514" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04215605&sol;Soul-Axiom-Wii-U-Elysia-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-85514 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04215605&sol;Soul-Axiom-Wii-U-Elysia-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Soul Axiom Wii U Elysia BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-85514" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ms&period; Mysterious Bun-head reveals all&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>What followed from there is almost too crazy to make up and almost a non-spoiler as difficult as it is to describe in words&period; As its name would suggest&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s a certain &&num;8220&semi;truth&&num;8221&semi; it wants you to believe – what that is I still don&&num;8217&semi;t know&comma; at least as far as one brainy British lady is willing to reveal&period; Though I wish Brainy British Lady could lip-sync&comma; the sheer scale of its &&num;8220&semi;idea&&num;8221&semi; is admirable&period; That <em>Soul Axiom<&sol;em> wants to take me on a &&num;8220&semi;quest to unlock your identity&comma; your story&comma; your mystery&&num;8221&semi; is something I like a lot&period; Whether it can do that on its purported &&num;8220&semi;8-12 hours&&num;8221&semi; of gameplay and still modest production values I&&num;8217&semi;m not so sure&period; But I hope it can&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The burden of big ideas and bigger promises can&&num;8217&semi;t stop<em> Soul Axiom<&sol;em> from dreaming the dream that only so many games could aspire to&period; Its beautiful art-style and entrancing pacing of its demo keep things interesting from start to finish&comma; but like the finest painting&comma; I can&&num;8217&semi;t guess how long I&&num;8217&semi;ll want to think on it before moving on&period; Like a dream you can&&num;8217&semi;t remember when you awake&comma; <em>Soul Axiom<&sol;em> embodies that feeling you hope leads you to an epiphany&period; I imagine there is one here&comma; a big one&comma; and I can&&num;8217&semi;t wait to find out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Soul Axiom&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;em>s currently available on Steam Early Access and free digital download on the Nintendo eShop  &&num;8217&semi;til <strong>June 22nd<&sol;strong>&period; The game will be coming soon to Wii U&comma; Xbox One&comma; and Playstation 4&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Check back for more on our coverage of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;nintendos-letting-you-download-e3-indie-demos-from-home&sol;">all things Nindie<&sol;a> and more E3 coverage right here at <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com">BagoGames<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;