Desolation is a very cleverly crafted first person puzzler that blends zero gravity, grappling hooks and Portal-esque physics based puzzles as you attempt to survive after your space station is nearly wiped out after a catastrophic event.
Created by students of the DigiPen Institute of Technology, Desolation offers a brain teasing puzzle platforming experience and a dark sci-fi narrative that’s reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the game you play an astronaut who’s space station has had a catastrophic collision and must now make his way through the remains of it to stand any chance of survival.
As well as a ‘helpful’ AI called Oracle, you also have a handy grappling gun which can be used to help you scale walls or move large objects when the gravity is turned off. You can turn off the gravity via consoles that are scattered around the ship, but this also cuts all power to all other devices, such as doors, so you’ll often have to turn the gravity on again after you’ve moved certain objects to be able to proceed.
Visually Desolation can look a little basic at times, but the level design is fantastic throughout and packs a lot of inventive puzzles into its half hour playtime. A challenging and creative first person puzzle adventure well worth checking out.
Download Desolation Here (Windows)