I feel somewhat conflicted every time I think back to my experience with this title. Engaging and intriguing, Thirty Flights of Loving is a bite sized dose of methodically and expertly crafted narrative. You'll be confused and disappointed, but also transfixed with the puzzle of riddling out what truly happened on your fifteen minute journey. Were this game free or less ridiculously priced I would give it an eight and be on my way, but such a high tag for such little 'game' cannot be ignored. Give it a go if experimental narratives fill you with glee, but seriously consider the price for value ratio if the previous statement does not apply to you.… Expand

Honestly. This "game" is nothing more than a cheap way for the producer to get money. It could've easily been made into a short cartoon and posted on youtube. In fact that would've been better. At least then I wouldn't have felt so cheated afterwords. The only people who seem to like this scam are the kind of people who stare at modern art and pretend like they understand what the artist was trying convey. Just watch a play through on youtube and save yourself the time and the money..… Expand

As an artist I can understand people using 'games' as a form of artistic expression and what not but this was pushing it. In short, it is a 5 minute walk through scene. I would not even call it a game and to me it felt like they created an intro with end credits but forgot to add in the middle part. I've played 'artistic' games like Dear Esther and The Path both of which played like the creators put a lot of thought and effort into an over all nice experience that made you really think about what was going on while leaving it's impression on you. However with this....'game' i walked up to the 'The end' block and seriously thought they were joking. The only impression I got left with here was complete disappointment.

the short scene it's self is rather nice but had it been really drawn out more over maybe a good hour or two, i would have been able to appreciate it more. There were games made in the 48 hour game festival more captivating and content full then this. I don't honestly believe this took more then a week to make.

Oh and the whole 'it's indie and cheap' thing does not excuse this. Just because it's an indie game doesn't mean they can make any crap they want and it's 'ok because it's indie.' I'm sorry but i am just too disappointed to be susceptible to this incredibly short story...… Expand

I'm a bit shocked by the high scores that critics gave this.. experiment. I will give the 'game' credit that its style is mildly charming and the story it was telling could have 'become' interesting. That is the end of my praise. It is so incredibly short that I can't believe they opted to charge money for it. I felt like someone had come in and stolen 5 dollars out of my pocket when the credits rolled. Also, for the very little time you're playing you have no impact on the story. It's a straight hallway where you can't even so much as walk 10 feet away from the predetermined paths.

I honestly question whether the 'experimental' part of this was the gameplay or seeing how little work they could put into a game and still get away with charging money for it.… Expand

Don't bother me with your "art game". Please, I love original games like journey, to the moon, Dear Esther etc. But this is not art. This is intellectual masturbation. 10 min of nothing, 5$ less for charity.

It tells a tale so well that it can make you feel in just 30 minutes. The user review section is proving to be just as useless as any other. Please play this game knowing that it is a defiant anti-game that won't give you any great game play. It is here just to show what amazing things can be done with story telling in a first person game. It shows that games shouldn't always be about the grind but should be gripping and something to have a conversation about. Don't play looking for something easy.… Expand

Yes, the praise reviews are giving this game is accurate. It's a carefully made, non-linear story played through in disjointed pieces. It's usually all played through in one session. It's clever and charming. Frankly, however, the now free-to-download Gravity Bone was more engaging, and free. Try Gravity Bone, and if you LOVE it, buy this game expecting the same experience with a little more story and a little less game. Otherwise, and I'm on this side, it's not worth the $5 for the 10 minutes it offers, regardless of how funny and creative this game really is. Just watch a let's play and you'll get the exact same experience.… Expand

It's very indie, but there is something about Thirty Flights of Loving that I love. I'm not sure exactly what it is, to be honest. Maybe, the simple fact that so much work is put into 30 minutes of gameplay? Maybe, the livelihood of the worlds they create? Maybe, the "You wake up and see yourself sleeping" type stories? I'm not sure, but I think everyone can find something to love in this game.

This game is a crazy jumble of nothing. Its construction is sh!tty, its plot is non-existent and its characters are flat. Nothing about the content of the game moves you to play on or to feel interested in any way. You are thrown into a scene and world that has no background other than a quick run-down of your companions skills through bold text and vague jump-cut scenes which depict moments before and after a heist. Nothing is explained to you, which may have been alright had they not chosen to skip around chronologically while also leaving out key points of the plot (i.e. the game is about a heist, but you never even see that occur or participate in it). But since they did, the viewer gets jerked around and has to make sense of mundane or confusing moments that have no dialogue or text for explication. So now you're playing through a second time, wondering if there's any point at all, but all you're finding is a completely non-interactive world with a mildly interesting art style. in fact, the mildly interesting art style is the only thing that earns this title a single point. The critics write reviews saying it's good that this game doesn't hold your hand or act like a normal game- well it's not. Why don't other games base themselves entirely on jump-cuts? Because they're not avant garde enough? No. They don't do that because making a game that way wouldn't make any sense and it would rob the game of it's story and details. That is exactly what happens with TFOL. Also, what does Thirty Flights of Loving mean? Is it referencing the fact that they own a plane? That the characters are in love? Who knows! It's just a non-sense title to go right along with a non-sense game. You go into TFOL wondering what kind of experience you will get because the trailer is well constructed and the art style looks interesting, but you leave confused and annoyed because the end comes too quickly and you're still wondering what the point was. This game is basically bad sex. The only reason I see this getting a good review is that there are a handful of people who thought it was good and everyone else is too embarrassed to look stupid disagreeing with those people because they're considered "professional" opinions. This feels like the era of shock art where "artists" upset their viewers and tell them that what they've seen and experienced is both good and art. Spoiler alert: It isn't. Save yourself a few dollars and go do something enjoyable. Or if you really want, you could also pay someone to slap you in the face- that is the equivalent of what you'll be doing in buying this game anyway, only you'll actually save some time just paying for the slap.… Expand

This is more a lightly interactive short film than a game. It's packed with fun ideas, it's relatively well executed, and there's nothing else like it. But it's also very, very brief, and not quite as clever or essential as the critics have made it out to be.

It's not really worth £4, but neither is a pint of beer in Central London.

The main gripe is fairly accurate, $5 for 10 minutes of entertainment is pushing it. But, if you are a fan of Dear Esther, Home, The Path, Fatale and similar, this one is up there in newness and difference. A narrative that has some lovely moments, but alas requiring little interaction by you except to push things along. Enjoy the 10 minutes and think, odd but amusing.

This game is beyond awful. I can't believe I paid money for this. No amount of "art game" talk can cover up the fact that this isn't in any way interesting to "play" or interact with. It also crashes often.

One of the few times where the artsy game critics and people's voice differ greatly.
I wouldn't recommend this game to a single friend. There's so much better out there. Not impressed at all.

What the hell was that ? It's not a game at all and i don't understand why peoples loves this and how it manages to makes money. I think this is the worst thing i played ever. Save yourself some money and go see a walkthrough on youtube, it's as interactive as the full game.

The pure, unfiltered weirdness of this "game" made me think of something a lonely 14-year-old modder might create out of boredom and I was annoyed by every second of the 15 minutes required to fully experience it. And yet there's no denying that it was a memorable experience. It doesn't really work as a game but I keep thinking that Chung might actually be a visionary who still hasn't found the right way to realize his ideas. Who knows what he'll surprise us with in a few years?… Expand

I'm a proud supporter of indie games. I had some spare money lying around in my Steam wallet and I decided I'd take a gamble and get a couple games. I was not expecting to be "blown-away" by this game, but i was expecting it to be unique, interesting and fun. Most of all I was expecting to be able to enjoyably play it for at least a couple hours worth of time. How wrong and disappointed I was. The story lasts approximately 20 minutes and there is no replayability to it. What makes the medium of art and story telling that is known as "video games" is their ability to let the user interact with the game. The level of interaction introduced in this game is dreadful; Google Earth is more interactive and it's free. I not only spent more time at the beginning just tweaking the graphics, but in the end I also enjoyed setting up my graphics more than the actual game. If you are looking for a good indie game of some sort, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! Go buy something like Machinarium or LIMBO.… Expand

This is a neat tech demo, as it would be a very good way to tell a story... but the story given is not complete. There's only half a story (and not a good one at then), then it ends after literally 15 minutes.

I would recommend this if it were free (not as good as Stanley Parable, but still cool), but my god do not pay money for this.

This is an interactive story. Not much of a game but it tells a story in an interesting way. Whilst I would recommend a play through I'm not sure it's with £3.99. Although if you have played any of the other Blendo Games' games, several of which are still freely available on their website, then it's easier to justify the big outlay for such a short game.

A flawless experience that needs no other comment, but metacritic reviews must be at least 150 characters long. This game understands brevity - metacritic doesn't.

This is NOT a game, and I cannot believe the high Metascore which this has attracted. The MUCH lower user scores are very telling.
This is a self-indulgent w**k-fest, full of "in jokes" which aren't funny - or even jokes - and nobody should even care about as this piece of software is generally very poorly-constructed and CRASHES FREQUENTLY!
There's just no excuse... Using an engine which is over a DECADE old, I gained precisely no enjoyment from this dross and want my money back.
Avoid, avoid, avoid.… Expand

Over rated. I think that best describes my experience with 30 flights of loving. It seems that you can throw anything radical at critics these days and they will have a proverbial orgy over it so they don't look unintelligent and I think the fear of looking stupid has contributed to this games undeservedly high meta critic score. if you're looking for a half hour experience you may have to repeat in order to fully understand, sure but don't expect any closure, there is a basic story that you will have to think about and look around for but nothing amazing honestly.… Collapse

This game is a total fraud and I'd like slap some sense into the Metacritics for suckering me into purchasing this game. It's not even a game. In a game, you have some control over something somewhere somehow. This is a crappy flash movie where you press "W" instead of "Play". The story is totally cliche and boring. You keep waiting for the twist, the punchline, the epiphany, the revelation, and then BAM, "The End". What?!? 10 minutes does not a game make. Thirty Flights of Loving is a stain on the reputation of indie games. It should be called Ninety Megabytes of Nothing.… Expand

The first one "Gravity Bone" was much much better. The commentary was nice but my second play through crashed near the end. I do not think I will attempt to play it again.

Only 15 minutes long. It's just a story, not a game. Avoid or you will be sorry. Most expensive game per minute I've ever bought. I want my GD money back, you will too.

I am at a loss describing why this isn't free. There is nothing about this that evokes game and even as a story it's not interesting... Check the user ratings compared to critics. This is as pretentious as it gets

Ok, the game is... hmmm... truly "special", here's what I want to say to its creators: 1) What the f**k was that?
2) Do you consider this art or what?
3) Oh, you even charge money for that?
4) Shame on you, "game" creators!

In several minutes the game had ended but i knew all of the story. Sure the game is very short but its worth it if you have cash in your pockets.

Had I paid more than $2.50, I might have been frustrated by the ridiculously small amount of content in this game and I'm pretty sure there isn't even $2.50 worth based on the quantity or the "quality" of the graphics. When I read the reviews before buying it, I thought the claims of 5-15 minutes of gameplay were the usual reviewer exaggerations, but the game is really that short! Double it because it comes with its equally short prequel, Gravity Bone. Yet, for all its brevity and infantile graphics, there's something to this game: little twists in the plot that you don't see coming and a storytelling style that feels a bit like a 1960s psychological drama. As the extremely skewed reviews show, this isn't a game for everyone. You have to come at it like a wine tasting. Sure you pay too much for a small glass, but you get a taste of something you don't get every day. If you're an aficionado of the subtle things that go into a game and not just playing the games, you'll probably get something out of it. If you're looking for a game for the sake of playing it and you want a bang for your buck, you need to look elsewhere.… Expand

I recommend it for the adventurous type, but only at a dollar or something. There are other games for puzzles and platforming. This one is about walking through a carefully crafted short story, and it's very entertaining because the story is crammed into the short form. I think the developer took a lot of time decorating the different rooms and figuring out how to show the story in an attractive fashion. I don't get the fullest out of the story because there's a lot between the lines (the bird theme that is reflected in the title) and the title crashed at the end so I had to watch the last minute on Youtube. Still, recommended for a dollar or maybe two. If you're that kind of person.… Expand

Eh....Ok. You basically walk through an artsy story that doesn't make much sense and which leaves a lot up to interpretation. The story was not interesting or compelling to me. It also takes less than 20 minutes to complete this "game." I feel compelled to be especially harsh here, because critics have given so much praise to Thirty Flights of Loving, when I couldn't really recommend that anyone should buy this. So, you have been warned.… Expand

Great story, superb presentation, memorable music, and the inclusion of Gravity Bone: this is an incredible experience that was well worth my $4 several times over. The Citizen Abel series continues to prosper with this extraordinary title, especially considering that it was built on the QUAKE2 engine, given that nobody has even touched it in years. To the average gamer, there may not be much to see here, but to pass up a title such as this would be a mistake, for I have never seen something so refreshingly different in a while, being that the only other time was when its predecessor, Gravity Bone, came into existence. In short, the Indie genre triumphs once again.… Expand

Thirty Flights of Loving is a lovely, witty brief experiment in storytelling - that's it. Too short to call it a game, too fancy to whine about this fact. I do wish it was longer and thus more engaging, but still I don't blame Brandon Chung for making it short. Who knows, may be he is cooking up something bigger after all these fun experinments. Anyway, recommended.
P.S. A lot of complaints about the price. If you judge game value by its length...well, poor you. Short length makes many games even more memorable (Dishonored is a great example).… Expand

There are no dialogues, the story is out of order and it has no gameplay elements. Thirty Flights of Loving was clearly made with the purpose of making the player think of all that he sees and does in the game - and it's very competent at that, as long as the player is willing to slow down the pace and try to connect to the story and the characters. There's a great deal of art and creativity to the environments and interactions the player can make, and the music/sound itself is brilliant. The story itself is only as good as the player's imagination - if you're not a creative person, you'll definitely not enjoy this game as much as I did. Unfortunately, the game crashed to the desktop about 4 times in 2 playthroughs - that's not nice. Also, although it's evident that a lot of effort was put into it, and even though it's a unique and clever experience, I don't see this game being worth $5. So, I give it an 8/10, it seems like a fair score.… Expand

This game is not for everybody, and don't feel bad if you're not on the target audience. It's not elitist; it's simply trying to show a few things. There is no challenge to overcome, nor anyway to actually lose (except by killing yourself). Its more like a first person "take a look on what we built". It will be entertaining for those thrilled by the visual art choices and people who love to look into details. The directors commentary can be a lesson for those interested in building narratives. For anybody interesed in "classic" video-games, that is, win-lose situations, avoid this by any and all costs. You will hate it. For those interested in little details and an interesting approach on how to set a narrative in games, its great.… Expand

This game will surprise you, break your expectations, and make you care for the story.
You will be delivered an emotional impact as you'll review what you know, new angle at a time - during the first play through and throughout the replays (you will want to play it again), when you'll learn to notice the more subtle stuff and start puzzling it out.

It is fresh, fun, beautiful, thought provoking, and highly recommended by me.… Expand

This experimental title tells a short story in a unique way, similar to that of Dear Esther and The Path. Unlike the other games I mentioned, Thirty Flights of Loving is annoying to play, triggers no emotion and features no attempt to immerse the player. It is true that this game is as long as it should be, but only in the fact of telling a story. The game has plenty of pointless "gameplay" elements, annoying sound effects and confusing mechanics. The title goes for 10 minutes, for a 5 dollar "game" it is a pretty damn big rip off. 10 minutes of confusion, 0 gameplay, linear progression, pointless features and no player impact of the story begs the question of why the player was given the controls in the first place. The new scene of art inside gaming is an interesting and for the most part a good thing, but Thirty Flights of Loving takes this scene to beyond ridiculous. The whole title is basically a waste, the story told in the "game" can be told a hundred times better on paper, or in a cartoon. The whole experience of this game can be summed up in confusion, and when the end credits smack you in the face after 10 minutes, you can't help feel like you have been hypnotized, then mugged for your lunch money without realizing.… Expand

There is such little game-play besides moving and occasionally pressing E. I've played point and clicks games at least most try to put in puzzles. This is a game that was better served being a animation on YouTube. Torrent, watch a YouTube video, or play it if a friend has it don't waste money on this.

Thirty Flights of Loving is a first-person interactive story. The story's incredibly short, and can be experienced in about 15 minutes. The story itself is told in short, disconnected segments requiring you to fill in the blanks yourself.

30 Flights is definitely an arthouse game. It has an interesting approach to interactive storytelling that may be worth seeing, but unfortunately, the story it tells is unremarkable. From what I could tell, there just isn't much substance there. What's much more interesting is playing with the developer's commentary on, so you can see some of the thought that went behind the experience.

The game's prequel is also included, and while it's a longer game with more gameplay elements, it's designed clumsily, and you might be left with no idea where to go.

This game has a very niche audience, and to them, this game will be worth far more than the asking price. It wasn't for me, though, and I get the feeling that it's not for most people, especially because the price doesn't pay for much content. It's worth experiencing if you have a few extra minutes, but I wouldn't pay over a dollar for this. If this looks interesting to you, I'd recommend checking out The Stanley Parable instead.… Expand

Thirty Flights of Loving is not a game in the traditional sense, and is certainly not for everyone. Your five dollars will net you a fifteen minute experiment in storytelling nothing more, nothing less. The game absolutely accomplishes what it set out to do, and successfully manages to tell an involving story (well, as involving as you can get in a little over ten minutes) with no dialogue or character text. A separate playthrough with developer commentary which I found very interesting is also included, which provides insight into the development process and what the developer intended to achieve with certain inclusions. All in all, if you're interested in the advancement of storytelling in video games, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. If you're looking for anything else, steer clear.… Expand

This is not a game. If you're looking for anything approaching gameplay, go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Go watch someone play it on YouTube. It'll be the same experience, but you'll still have your money.

While this isn't for everyone, I found TFOL very enjoyable. It was short, but that wasn't really a bad thing, since you have to play it several times to really get what is going on, plus there is a developer's commentary. The story isn't presented chronologically, and it leaves parts out, leaving you to guess at what happened. There are clues left in the game, but much of it is left to guesswork. Working out what happened is the fun part, and what really makes it enjoyable.
If you're still deciding if you want to get this or not, go play Gravity Bone, which is the free prequel. If you enjoy that, you might enjoy TFOL too.… Expand

So long as you go in with the knowledge that this is a first-person short story, you'll enjoy it. The game is only 15 minutes long at most, but I believe that for that time the story is more enjoyable than many much longer games. The prequel, Gravity Bone is free so I recommend playing that first to decide whether you should spend your money on this one. Both games are Blendo Games triumphs and I look forward to more like this from the developer.… Expand

Make sure you play the prequel to this game, Gravity Bone. It's free on the developer's site. Not hard to find if you search for it. As for this game, it's brilliant. It's more of a digital story and it's very well executed. The story is constantly progressing, and it only tells you enough info that you need to know. It leaves the audience enough room to use their imagination to fill in the blanks on the details of the story. WARNING! It took me 11 minutes to go through this! You have been warned! So it's hard for me to recommend this game since you're paying $5 for about 10 minutes. It's great, but hard to recommend people to pay money for it.… Expand

This should be a free download. DON'T buy it. Those are 5$ totally thrown away.
Critics should actually help gamers to choose which game to buy and this shouldn't have gone far than a "20" average vote.

Normally you should beware reviews of 0 and 10, because the reviewer has an agenda or is simply being childish in his extremity. This is the first game in 25 years of gaming that I truly thought deserved a 0, and it's because it isn't a game.

What you will find in most of the high reviews is a lot of vague, flowery language used to champion the storytelling and quality of plot. I thought it was like 21 grams: a boring, predictable story that would have been so obvious and boring if told sequentially that they had no choice but to try and faux-art it up. So I would caution you as a reader to always look for the actual points made and examine them for content, rather than form.

Here's an example. "It's a portal to one's own imagination, the only lock on which is the limit he would impose on his own dreams--let go of all expectations to find it so much more than it first seemed." I just described a door hot glued to a solid brick wall. Not only will if take effort to remove the door, but when you do, you're still faced with a brick wall, whose function is antithetical to that of a door.

When describing a game, your first concern should be gameplay. If it isn't, you're not a gamer. You can care about other things, like plot/character, quality of voice-acting, graphics, price, etc, but gameplay is the fundamental reason why an idea becomes a game and not a movie.

A blogger put it best (and I paraphrase) that it seemed like an attempt by someone who is confused by art and assumes that others are likewise confused, to reproduce that which confuses him. It's just a heist story with characters that don't even achieve one-dimensionality. The mountebanks that tell you otherwise are responding to their ill-informed gut instincts that the game is art, and as people are given to do, they oversell it as brilliant and groundbreaking in an attempt to somehow internalize those misperceived traits. These same mental gymnastics allow some to continue support of "Indoctrination Theory" in 2013.

It's a half-story told though asynchronous set pieces separated by jump cuts. It has a kind of Diabolik era look to it, but each set piece is simply walked (or run) through with the occasional static activation of an object. In the opening scene you can grab bottles of liquor, a gun and some ammo, but you will never use them.

As I approached what ultimately was the end, I thought it was a fun way to introduce elements of the back story before launching the actual gameplay. And then it was over, 10 minutes of absolutely nothing.

I considered calling Steam and requesting them to remove it from my account, but its presence serves as an albatross around my neck and reminds me to always do my research.

Dust off your copy of Out of This World if you're old like I am, or buy it from GOG if you still have your youth.… Expand

I think the expectations of many people on this were a little askew; I knew what I was getting into, that it only had 15 minutes of playtime and was rather a short story via the medium of a video game. And thus I was not disappointed, it was an interesting story where dream and reality meshed up, a story was told but in an unconventional way, with strong pictures and without many words.


Agreed, this is not really a game. This is a short story. Or their equivalent in video games.

- Cazy… Expand