'n Verlore Verstand Review Summary

Stunning visuals and a superb soundtrack are undermined by a thin story, frequent technical bugs, and tedious flower collection, making it hard to justify the price.

Beautiful and visually stunning: Players consistently praise the game's visuals, describing them as beautiful, visually astounding, and with great graphics. This high-frequency praise indicates a strong positive impression of the game's art direction.

Excellent music and soundtrack: Reviews highlight the soundtrack as fantastic, fitting every scene perfectly, and being generally good. The music is a standout feature that enhances the overall experience.

Great value and worth: Multiple reviews mention the game is worth the price, especially on sale, and generally great to play. This suggests players feel they get good value for their money.

Diverse and varied levels: Players note that levels are very different from each other, with many levels and variations. This variety is seen as a positive aspect, keeping gameplay fresh and engaging.

Good atmosphere and ambiance: Players appreciate the game's atmosphere, sounds, and ambiance, noting that each level is superbly done in terms of atmosphere. This contributes to an immersive experience.

Lack of story and narrative: Multiple reviewers report the game has no meaningful story, lacks narrative clarity, and ends abruptly with a white screen. This is a core structural issue that makes the experience feel incomplete.

Numerous technical bugs: Players report a high number of bugs and technical flaws, including disappearing textures and glitches. The game feels unstable and unpolished, undermining the overall experience.

Tedious flower collection: Collecting flowers is described as tedious and involves excessive searching, with no indicator showing which flowers have already been collected. This makes the mechanic frustrating and time-consuming.

Poor control responsiveness: The controls feel bad and are difficult to use, with mouse sensitivity being too high and adjustments having no effect. This makes the game harder to play than it should be.

Boring and tedious gameplay: Players describe the game as boring, irritating, and tedious to play, indicating a fundamental lack of engagement. This is a common complaint that affects overall enjoyment.

Platforming and puzzle elements: The game is consistently described as a platformer with puzzle-solving elements, often in a first-person perspective. It includes moving and collapsing platforms, mazes, and exploration, blending these mechanics throughout its levels.

Reaching trees as objective: The primary objective in each level is to reach a tree, which transports the player to the next stage. This is a recurring theme across many clusters, with trees serving as exit portals or checkpoints.

Collectible flowers and items: The game features collectible flowers and other items that unlock paths or secret levels. Collecting 60 flowers grants access to a secret level, and item collection is a key gameplay element.

Walking simulator aspects: Several reviews describe the game as a walking simulator, especially in early parts, with minimal story and focus on exploration. It ranges from walking sim to precision platformer, with some philosophical undertones.

Maze and labyrinth levels: Many reviews highlight the game's maze and labyrinth components, with corridors and confusing paths. Some levels are described as minimalist maze puzzles, and getting lost is a common experience.

Texture glitches widespread: Textures disappear, glitch, or become transparent across various levels, affecting platforms, walls, and floors. This causes visual confusion and sometimes makes objects invisible.

VR mode unplayable: Multiple users report that the game is completely unplayable in VR, especially on the Vive. This includes severe disorientation due to lack of turning controls and tracking issues.

Level 12 impossible: A fatal graphics bug at level 12 hides the platforms needed for jumping, making the level impossible to finish. This is a game-breaking issue that halts progress.

Game-breaking progression bugs: Several users report bugs that make the game unplayable, such as a huge bug halfway through, sinking into textures, and freezing at death points. These issues block progression entirely.

Graphics bugs on high-end hardware: Users with powerful GPUs like the RTX 4080 still encounter graphic bugs that prevent finishing certain scenes. This indicates optimization issues beyond hardware limitations.

Recommended for niche audiences: The game is recommended for specific player types, such as fans of surreal experiences, walking sims without stories, difficult platformers, and those who enjoy confusing mazes. This suggests the game has a narrow appeal and is not for general audiences.

Not worth the money: Several reviewers state the game is not worth its price, with some noting it should only be bought on sale or at a reduced price. One reviewer specifically says no one should buy it at full price, and another mentions it's not worth the money yet.

Avoid game due to unplayability: Multiple reviewers strongly advise against purchasing the game, citing unplayable states and severe issues. One reviewer explicitly says to avoid it like the plague, while another mentions a fatal bug that makes it unplayable until fixed.

Worth it on sale: Several reviewers indicate that the game is worth purchasing if it is on sale or at a reduced price. This suggests that the game has some value but not at its full price.

Recommended for patient players: The game is recommended for patient players who can handle slow, interpretive experiences. This aligns with the niche appeal and suggests a specific type of gamer will enjoy it.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 2.0h.

Most players report a repetitive, boring, and unengaging experience that never becomes fun, with only a single outlier finding later challenge rewarding.

Friction: tedious searching for poorly visible flowers; badly set checkpoints; repetitive and boring stages; ambiguous progression; lack of narrative clarity; lack of direction.

Surreal Puzzle Enthusiast: Exploratory, puzzle-solving, atmosphere-focused. Motivation: Experiencing unique surreal puzzle design and aesthetic beauty. Stance: buy.

Achievement Hunter / Completionist: Completionist, achievement hunting. Motivation: Completing achievements and unlocking all content. Stance: no buy.

Genre/Design Critic: Selective play, genre-conscious, quality-of-life focused. Motivation: Seeking a well-designed game that respects player time and matches genre expectations. Stance: sale.

VR support available: The game supports VR mode, with some players using Oculus CV1 headsets. However, there are known issues with VR key binding and no support for motion controllers.

Developer ignores long-standing issues: Some issues have been known since 2017, and the developer has refused to fix them, despite promises to do so. Players feel the developers are ignoring calls for help, and the publisher is aware of the problems.

Language support is extensive: The game supports a large variety of languages, including Chinese and Ukrainian. However, the translation quality is poor, with non-existent words like 'kontynułuj'.

Small development team: The game was made by two South African students and a very small team, with the developer setting up Skobbejak games. This context is often mentioned in reviews.

Frequent sales and low price: The game is often on sale and was purchased at a discounted price, making it a cheap option for players. This affordability is a common positive note.