Maximus Cerebrum

What they said!

I really enjoyed playing this.

Even though this graphics theme is not my style personally you pulled it off very well. The graphics were consistent, the particle effects were fun, you could always tell what you could interact with at first glance and even though most of the rooms and scenery were static, the animations were always good and there were many little details that helped create a solid atmosphere.

The sounds were great- from the little thud you make when you land to the explosions of huge moving platforms. The music was a very interesting choice too as it puts the graphics style in contrast but it worked surprisingly well.

The puzzles were a bit too easy, so I didn't really feel satisfied solving them, and in many cases I think I accidentally solved them before even seeing the barrier or path they unlock so the game felt a bit flat. The exception is the last puzzle with the rubix cube thingy which took me forever to figure out because I was sure each time you press a button it'll just draw OVER the existing row/column and not fill only the blank spots.

The whole background story and scenery really clicked with me. I don't know if it's by design or not but to me this game seems to tell a story about AI becoming dangerously sentient, and I'm not talking about the player robot, but about Controller Dux. It's the little things that really got me, for example in the first levels it looks like you were shredding brains, and in the log thingies it seems Controller Dux fears sentiency himself. So much that he eliminated his human creators and claimed the "facility" for himself, creating mindless robots to keep operating it to keep himself alive. Personally, I think that the moment humankind will create real AI it'll be our end.

Anyways great game, not many manage to capture my attention for more than 30 minutes. 5/5 would bang.

I'm such a slowpoke.

A very well made game! Well done on finally finishing it! I have been looking forward to playing it and I certainly enjoyed my experience. I am a horrible gamer and tend to lose interest in most games after 10 minutes unless they are pretty expansive, but Maximus Cerebrum dumped me in an unknown black and white place with nothing.

Then I sprouted some legs and started to walk, it's the first thing anyone would do. And I walked and walked and explored the mysterious, sprawling location. Finding all sorts of peculiar things and trying to remember if the room I was walking through was one I had already passed.

Maximus Cerebrum takes all elements of a good game and puts it in this nice humble adventure. It wasn't too difficult for me so I didn't give up on it - I wanted to finish it because I knew I could. It wasn't too overwhelming for me but it was big enough for it to make me want to explore. It wasn't too complex for me but it was simple enough to know what I was doing. And that's what makes it a great playthough.

Even though the game was very big, I think that it would have benefited from larger paths to choose from. Turning on all the switches was fun to find, but if they were more of a challenge to find, then I'd feel a lot more satisfied when I got it. I kept on looking at the map because I knew there was one and I wanted to see how much I had explored, but I think the map could have been used better. Maybe having to come back to a room you had already explored, or trying to figure out how to get to a certain room to get a powerup. Oh yeah, powerups. It would have been a lot more fun with more powerups. Or maybe more things like the orb - I like the little atmospheric things.

I'd recommend this to anybody really, it ticks everyone's boxes. Well, maybe not every single person in the world but people should definitely play it.

Great work orange.

this is cool! I looove all the little mechanical systems and puzzles within them. they were the highlight definitely. Really good detail. I also admire the ability to make all the levels connect up into a big system (the size of the place is pretty astounding), although I kind of agree with Spydog on how it wasn't very fun to explore (maybe some details to tell some obscure back story in each area? I saw potential for this when two robots were watching what I was doing, and more of this would work so well with the whole system idea.). The destruction was a surprise for me and definitely gave a good kick as well.

I didn't really care for or see the point of the logs, I think they were interesting in Iji because it told me something more about the game's universe and made it more immersive. The log idea here didn't seem necessary, could have had more of a point [unless there are hidden ones?].

I also felt the music didn't have much of a connection with the visual aesthetic, I think there is potential here for a soundtrack to assist really well for the puzzles, but personally your choice didn't do much for me.

my thoughts. good game, orange!!!!

I've only played through it once, so there's more for me to see, but here are my initial thoughts. There are several elements I really liked. The lite puzzles were really enjoyable. They provided just enough challenge to make me feel clever for having solved them while never driving me to frustration. They left me wanting more! I was expecting some more large-scale, meaty puzzle to come later in the game but it never came. (Or maybe I just missed it in my playthrough.) There were several moments near the end of the game that were truly impressive. It really did feel like the building was falling apart around me. The room that blows you back into the previous room along with a bunch of rubble (and then, upon entering a second time, had completely crumbled) was particularly great. It reminded me of the feeling I had when playing Metroid Prime 3's opening sequence. Very well done. It's great to have standout "moments". That said, the moments of room destruction/reconstruction and puzzles were most of what I enjoyed about the game. I found the exploration aspect dull. I wish the majority of the time was spent puzzle-solving instead of just walking and jumping around. The powerups just boosted my jump height and didn't provide me with any other tools to change my environment. (Or maybe I missed them.) I did appreciate the lack of forced backtracking, one of my pet peeves with Metroidvanias. The aesthetic was fine but not especially conducive to fun exploration. There were several background elements I thought I could interact with by stepping on or something, but it was disappointing when they didn't react to my actions. Also, the Omnidroid boss (or whatever you call it!) was really confusing at first. It took me about 5-6 deaths to figure out how to beat it. And the curious thing was that at first I attempted the correct strategy but I failed to notice the subtle difference in cracks on the charging stations, so I thought I had the wrong idea. If that was more noticeable, I think it'd be more fun. Once I figured out the solution, I did really enjoy the fight. It was a cool design and well-animated, and the sliding move threw a nice surprise into the mix!

So overall, I like the game. It has great "moments" to counterbalance the occasional monotony of exploration, and we'll see what happens on future playthroughs. :)