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Filament Review: A Meaningful Connection
Filament, a new puzzle game from developer Bear Envy, has a cliched setup: players must explore an abandoned space station and uncover a mystery all while a disembodied voice guides them. Filament is far from trite, however, and is a triumph of savvy game design. Thanks to a complex but heartfelt story, fiendish puzzles, and a gentle tone, Filament offers a fresh perspective on a familiar tale.
Filament begins with a nameless traveler discovering an abandoned research spaceship owned by Filament, the classic video game evil conglomerate. Upon entering the vessel, the traveler discovers Juniper, a woman who claims to be alone and trapped on the ship, unable to escape the cockpit because of security protocols set in place by computers known as anchors. Like many other games of its ilk, Filament is filled with empathetic environmental storytelling but what sets it apart is its kind spirit. Unlike Bioshock and Prey, games with similar set-ups, Filament doesn’t involve violent rebellion. With Abigail Turner's wistful performance as Juniper, the remnants of The Alabaster's former residents leave a lasting impact through understanding and empathy alone.
Part of what makes Filament such a compassionate experience is the quiet nature of its gameplay. The majority of Filament revolves around solving puzzles that require patience and observation. When hacking anchors, players take control of a robot that must connect various blocks together via a cable. Every puzzle involves this setup, but the variation is remarkable. One of the most memorable series involves pillars that release paint upon being activated, with the player tasked with painting the floor a certain color. The creativity of Filament puzzles is exemplary and their challenge is difficult, but, thankfully, there are ways to make it easier, if so desired. The game includes optional hints that tell the player which pillar they should connect next and alerts the player if they've made a wrong move. They're helpful without being cheap since only two can be used per puzzle and there are many blocks.
Alongside the puzzle-solving, players will also spend a good amount of time exploring. There are many collectibles to be found in Filament and they all have ties to the larger world. Some are purely environmental, fleshing out the context, but most go deeper, providing a code to some secret file or correspondence. The difficulty in cracking these runs the gamut from simple to extremely difficult. Some, like log cards for emails, have passwords outright printed on them, but other oddities require astute observation and deduction. The mystery of The Alabaster is never clearly spelled out either, with each piece of lore organically fitting into the world in ways that aren't always immediately obvious.
While Filament generally excels there are times when puzzles annoy rather than stimulate. For instance, there are a series of puzzles that requires players to connect the pillars in a specific order determined by a sign presented on the map. On their own, the signs are confusing but later challenges make it worse and obfuscate their information. Also, sometimes the hint system will recommend more difficult routes, or, as it did one time, bug out and point the player towards an impossible solution. These issues could be detrimental but given that they occur so infrequently, and only 2/3 of the puzzles need to be solved to complete the story, it's not a major problem.
Originally released back in April for the PC, Filament's recent release is a Switch port, and, luckily, the port is fantastic. Filament plays wonderfully on Switch with smooth controls and colorful graphics. In fact, Filament feels like a natural addition to the Switch library. The game's calm atmosphere and contemplative puzzle sequences make it an easy fit for quick sessions on the go in handheld mode.
Filament enthralls with its puzzles but lingers thanks to its empathy. While the universe depicted is haunting, the way Filament portrays it is so grounded in care and love that its lasting impression is one of hope and wonder rather than despair. There have been many indie darlings this year and Filament deserves to join their ranks.
Filament is available now on PC and Switch.
