Traverser
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Physics puzzler has great female hero but feels incomplete.
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Traverser
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What’s It About?
The sun has gone out in TRAVERSER. Humans live in Brimstone, a city set below the surface of the planet. It's a strange place where half the population lives in the upper city, where clean air is readily available, and the other half lives in lower city, where air is toxic and townsfolk are sick and slowly asphyxiating. The halves are separated by a crust of rock and traveling through it switches the pull of gravity so that upper-city dwellers are effectively standing on the feet of lower-city denizens and vice versa. Valerie is a young upper-city woman about to begin a career as a traverser, a sort of special agent equipped with a gravity glove that allows her to easily pick up and manipulate objects. She sets off on a five-hour journey through several zones of both cities, using her gravity glove and wits to solve many contextual puzzles, avoiding patrolling bad guys, and learning more about the mysteries of Brimstone along the way.
Is It Any Good?
Traverser has plenty of elements that ought to appeal to puzzle lovers and fans of indie games. Its physics-oriented conundrums frequently allow a degree of creativity in their solutions, letting players work out how to stack or join various movable objects in their own way. The narrative, meanwhile, has an appealing rebellious bent that promotes a healthy skepticism of authority and the courage required to stand up and ask questions when people tell you not to. Plus, it sports a beautiful aesthetic that mixes hand-drawn elements with precise computer rendering to create a unique look and feel.
Sadly, it never quite manages to form a cohesive whole. The gravity-glove puzzles, which are enjoyable but not particularly original, are interspersed with sequences that require accurate movement and jumps -- activities made frustrating by unforgiving keyboard controls. An option to use a gamepad could do wonders for playability. Though the story and world are strange and compelling, the characters and mysteries are only partially developed. Players aren't provided with enough information or details to really care about anyone or anything -- which is perhaps for the best, since the game's cliffhanger of an ending is hardly satisfying. Traverser was probably a great idea on paper, and maybe could have been a memorable puzzler in the vein of Portal or Quantum Conundrum if properly executed, but it needed a few more months in the oven to expand the story and smooth over its rougher edges.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the role of Valerie. She is a resourceful, capable, non-sexualized hero who unfailingly acts in the best interests of those for whom she cares. Can you think of other female game characters who fit a similar description?
Talk about screen time. Traverser takes about five hours to play from start to finish, so how many play sessions should a game of this length be broken into? How long can you play a game before feeling the need to stand up, stretch, and do something more active?
Game Details
- Platforms: Mac, Windows
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: problem solving, solving puzzles, Creativity: developing novel solutions
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Adult Swim Games
- Release date: July 7, 2015
- Genre: Puzzle
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Great Girl Role Models, Robots
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: August 24, 2016
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