POLYBIUS – my reflections after several tries

This is a strange one. Maybe in the same vein as Space Giraffe from the same developer – it looks very cool, sure, but I have yet to comprehend its gameplay. Is this a fun when I only need to drive through every gate to score and make myself semi-invicible all the time?

POLYBIUS, released in mid-2017 for PS4 and at the end of 2018 for PC, is loosely based on the urban legend which rose around 80-90’s. It told about a Tempest clone which could make you „brainwashed” (or rather brain-damaged) after playing certain time, due to how hypnotic and psychedelic it was. Such a legend became true… after 20 years 🙂 Indeed, at first it seems hypnotic and psychedelic, due to its visuals and music; more if you play it via VR. Just look!

You might think the visuals will drag you down for many hours, rendering the game very replayable. I wish I could personally tell the same. The gameplay is the issue it pulls me back a bit from POLYBIUS.

Objectivelly it is not bad really. It is certainly bug free and fair to beat it in one run. The thing is that POLYBIUS is more a race than a shooter. Sure, you can shoot enemies and obstacles in your way, but it seems that the real thrill it to drive through the gates, represented as bull horns. There are some levels where obstacles are indestructible and nigh-impossible to bypass, draining your shields (or just lives) quickly away. The best way to survive? Drive through these gates – one can make you invicible for 1-2 seconds, but drive through another and you get more seconds. You can practically not care about enemies or obstacles when you follow the trails which lead to these gates. Of course, you get power-ups for destroying these things, but this still makes you not focus on aiming, making the game less as a shooter

I admit I might have expected too much. I thought it may be much in the vein of Tempest (or in Jeff Minter’s style – Tempest 2000, TxK and Tempest 4000). POLYBIUS a kind of a corridor/tube like Tempest, due to how some levels are constructed. But in here, you don’t defend yourself from the enemies – you plow through them thanks to gates which make you practically drive into anything. I will still give it a try, no worries. If I happen to change my mind and begin to comprehend its gameplay, I guess I’ll write another entry about it.