Not all of the acting is perfect, admittedly, and the audio presentation won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but when it works Cloud Chamber is an absorbing, massive, occasionally unsettling, but absolutely compelling experiment in community narrative investigation.
It’s fair to say Cloud Chamber is a very specific type of game for a very specific type of gamer. It’s also fair to say that Cloud Chamber is one of the most original experiences I’ve had in a very long time, and joins games like Gone Home as it borders the line between game and interactive story.
This game blew me away, never seen anything like it!
Nice HD Video with real actors, and good music to go with it,
the story makes you want to explore and unlock the next piece of video , and its pretty exiting stuff.......
I give this game 10 out of 10 review , most definately recomended by me !
Where to start... Cloud Chamber was very intriguing, by its mechanics, its trailer... I was done with Alt-minds (a transmedia experience by Lexis Numerique - Yes, the one behind In Memoriam - Missing : Since January) since monthes, and was looking forward a new place to call home... I saw Cloud Chamber and thought 'Yeah, why not !' When i clicked on 'Purchase' i didn't knew what I was doing... Now that i finally got up to the final stage of this wonderful game, i just can't think of anything else... It's haunting me, with a lot of 'What if...' I could get through Cloud Chamber a couple more times without any troubles, finding new clues, and thinking again about those for hours, trying to figure out how the pieces could stick together. Finally, we're getting as obsessed by this than the mains characters... Just get that game ! If you haven't get through it yet, then you're missing a great change in games' mechanics !
The result is both fascinating and frustrating, though the innovative presentation, in which the data points are rendered on a "landscape metaphor" that scatters them (elevating by importance) across through physical and abstract areas, keeps things on the positive end of the spectrum.
Cloud Chamber offers an unusual experience: the fulcrum is not the story itself, but the active collaboration between the users, that delivers a truly adventure MMO experience. Until the story will entertain the players, and the spoilers will be avoided, the game can be considered as a good experiment.
There's just so little to do, and if you don't like commenting on videos you won't see anything here but a bunch of crazy confusing videos. Lovely idea, not for me or people like me, but a community of people already love it so feel free to ignore me and give it a go.
Hello, please excuse my bad English, just in few words:
If you like the X-Files and like to discuss the videos, files, photos etc. with the community, then you should buy it. And 15€ isn't so much money for this great work!
This game is AWESOME. There's nothing like it. From investigation lovers to game designers, this game should be played even if only for it's concept and execution alone. I really hope this opens a new path to interactive stories and game narrative.
As for the technical level, we really get a kick from analizing a photo or a video and finding things that no one has seen before, connecting dots, coming up and disproving theories basing our arguments on these 'fictional facts'. Conspiracy theorists: this game is for you. There is no gameplay; only discussions, theories and some serious and true investigation involved, that sometimes even extends to real-life references, places or events. It's a rich and immersive experience with an excellent and addictive soundtrack that glues all together and sticks in your head even when you're out of the game, along with all the theories and facts and timelines swirling around inside your head in a giant brainstorm.
This game is not recommended; this game is an absolute must play for all game lovers because it's rich, immersive and complete. We should support truly new projects like this, so go buy it NOW.
Generally I fray away from the spoils the PC platform offers and I ask myself why I don't immerse myself in it more often. After hearing about the intriguing concept developer Investigation North brought to the tale with Cloud Chamber, a puzzle with little puzzles, instead asking you to follow a compelling narrative and figure out the science behind a sound coming from the depths of the universe.
Once you do the usual housekeeping and finally boot up Cloud Chamber, you might find yourself a tad confused to what exactly it is, so much that it doesn’t even look like a game. There is a game there don’t you worry, one that fits snug in the bracket of virtual reality, where you must untangle the video, photos and scanned documents available to solve a mystery the Hardy Boys would scratch their heads at. The game offers a 3-D landscape featuring various nodes which are all connected but not in chronological order, each one offering information that unlike other mystery games is already at your fingertips. Navigating these nodes can be frustrating however, accidentally pressing the wrong node bringing you on a journey you just didn’t want to take. The overview of the chapter you’re in can also be stressful to use, not allowing you see all the nodes available, only the ones in the location you are.
The story centers around a research institute run by Gustav Petersen that has seen better days financially. Petersen’s daughter Kathleen manages to convince her stone-faced father to create a documentary about the institute that will cater more to those wrapped up in today’s world of social media and technology. The institute has a grim history in which Kathleen’s mother died after discovering a mysterious signal that has been broadcasting from space for over 40 years, a signal which Kathleen and her documentary crew try to figure out in the present. Eventually it goes **** up and Kathleen goes AWOL when her and the documentary crew consisting of well-dressed Tom and the tech-minded Max attempt an experiment to find the secret behind this signal. Her team then upload all the files they’ve collected onto a fictional system titled ‘Crowdscape’, were people can help find out exactly what happened to her.
The “found footage” scenes in particular are acted out well, on par with anything you see in your everyday mystery TV show, which is more important than you think, the information needs to be delivered perfectly to enhance your experience and Investigate North do just that. The developer didn’t hold back acquiring top-notch talent for Cloud Chamber either, with Gethin Anthony from popular show Game of Thrones and Jesper Christensen who starred in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace making the credits.
While you have to look through all these files yourself, where Cloud Chamber gets really creative is when you interact with others who purchased the game, bouncing ideas around in a single web portal in a hope you might further the cause. This is where I got most of our entertainment, mingling with the community the same you would on social network sites like Facebook or Reddit, all working towards the same goal. The interface Investigate North designed for these brainstorms are understandable and easy to use, by simply pressing a node I was presented with a screen of information with either a document, video or photo present, accompanied by a message board where I could jot down my thoughts on and reply to comments my fellow posters created.
Given the social aspect and the high volume of users interacting with each other you would expect a few disrespectful comments and the usual trolling to take place, but thankfully it stays mostly clean, with users only offering criticism to pointless questions non-related to the information on offer and usually in a very polite manner. If you do decide to share your thoughts then the community can reward you for your curiosity. Each player can make a name for themselves by taking part and is ultimately how you progress further in the game, with emblems accompanying each profile that can be ranked up, these range from “best comment”, “best eye” and “most replies”. Obviously the higher your stats on each emblem the more serious people will take you and what you discuss on the message boards.
All together Cloud Chamber is a breath of fresh air for those hoping to take a story in without having to work your keyboard into overdrive to get to the next plot twist or ending. Investigate North deliver a compelling narrative that’s bolstered by some top-notch acting by all main cast, most notably the Cumberbatch demeanor of Thomas, played by Gwylim Lee. The mystery while not played out chronologically still manages to hold your attention, your curiosity to see what happens next fueling your need to keep playing. All together Cloud Chamber stands out and may suffer from a few mild interface issues but is ultimately dwarfed by you and the community’s need to find the truth.
The most heinous crime this game commits is the pseudoscience it teaches investigating players. Sound waves are sound waves, light waves are light waves, and never the two shall meet in science. After recognizing the violation of this basic premise of physics, I quickly realized that all the "clues" were just pointless time-wasters adding nothing to story or entertainment of the game. If anything, the clues only pile on the misinformation about the laws of physics, astrophysics, astronomy, and science in general; after walking away from this game I literally feel stupider for having played it.
SummaryNavigate a strange 3D database and work with other players to determine what happened when a secret signal from another appears. Discuss your way through fragments of found footage films, journals and documentary clips about space.