ARTIFICIAL: An Upcoming Indie Physics-Based Puzzle Platformer Inspired by Portal Series

Solo developer Ondrej Angelovic is an experienced Unity developer who creates physics-based titles, like City Climber, which he released in 2017. Now, he is working on a new game called ARTIFICIAL, a physics-based first-person puzzle platformer inspired by Portal and Half-Life series.

“Interact with the environment, pick up and throw objects, sneak around enemies, control intricate physics-based mechanisms and learn how to survive in the underground colony of the Asteroid 2031 XT,” reads the game description. 

You set foot in an underground area, which is the hidden base of survivors hiding from an alien hive-mind entity. Everything here is physics-based, and you can play with numerous environmental puzzles by interacting with the surroundings, for example, picking up smaller objects and throwing them to destroy things, or distract enemies, and drag heavy items to reposition them in order to block lasers or be the stepping stones to reach areas that you can’t reach out to without them. 

Other than solving intricate environmental puzzles, players will also experience other gameplay like platforming, avoiding lasers, hiding from turrets, and sneaking around enemies. Together, they bring rich gaming experiences. 

If you happen to enjoy a retro graphic, you might prefer to enter a more low-poly world of the underground, as shown in a recently shared footage on the developer’s social media, showcasing the game’s visuals with retro shaders. As many have said, the style is pretty cool, so Angelovic has considered adding an option to enable retro filter or tweak relevant parameters to allow players to decide how they want the game’s visual style to be:

The game offers three to five hours of original story as you explore thousand meters underground in dozens of hand-crafted environments. Before it debuts sometime in 2025, you can get your hands on it by downloading its demo on Steam, and don’t forget to add it to your wishlist. 

Another game from the developer, The Flood, is a free-to-play 5-minute short game with a peaceful experience where you pilot a little boat down a river accompanied by a soothing soundtrack. “It's a gentle reminder that sometimes we should stop worrying about our destination and just enjoy the journey.” It’s worth checking out while waiting for ARTIFICIAL to be released. 

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