Video Game Review: Eclipse: Edge of Light

Eclipse: Edge of Light

White Elk Studios

PSVR

Adventure

You’ve crash-landed on an alien planet that holds the remains of a dead civilization. You find a relic that allows you to interact with the lost alien technology and harness magic powers. It’s time to explore these ruins and discover what led to this place’s ruin.

Eclipse: Edge of Light is a virtual reality experience that encourages players to explore a fascinating civilization while solving the puzzles that locks many mysteries away. It’s essentially a walking simulator with a few bells and whistles thrown in. Players have a neat artifact that allows them to make the ruins come alive. They get a jetpack for maneuvering, and a nice scanner to learn about the civilization’s downfall.

The artifact is what drives the game forward. It can move, destroy, and activate objects for the player to interact with. The ruins are rather impressive, with neat designs and a world full of charm and wonder. The puzzles aren’t overly difficult but do a good job of naturally giving the player progress. The difficulty curve is a bit uneven at times, with some puzzles being a bit too difficult early on with others being painfully easy during the game’s second half. Still, the game feels fair throughout, and the puzzles likely aren’t the main reason to play Eclipse, the experience is.

Despite the environments being impressive, the graphics leave a lot to be desired. With the PSVR headset on, most of the ruins just look blurry and muddy. Everything looks kind of blocky as if it belongs on an older console. This might hurt the virtual reality experience for some, but likely won’t be a dealbreaker. Just don’t expect state of the art visuals when playing Eclipse. The sound design is fine, with neat alien noises and pings bouncing into the player’s ears.

Eclipse uses the Dualshock controller, which is kind of a bummer since it makes the throwing controls a bit clunky. This is the kind of game that would do well with motion controls, but as of writing, the Playstation Moves are not compatible. Movement is simple and utilizes smooth locomotion and turning rather than teleportation and snap, which I appreciated. There aren’t a lot of comfort settings in Eclipse, but the game doesn’t have utilizes any wild motions either, so players are unlikely to get nauseous while playing.

Eclipse: Edge of Light is a fine walking simulator that tells an interesting story, but ultimately fails to truly stand out among its peers. It only succeeds because it is a VR title, and the game’s muddy visuals even damper that experience. Players can do worse, so if you are desperate for a short adventure with light puzzles, give this one a try.