There are gameplay mechanics in Proteus but its main form of interaction is between its audio and visuals and your imagination. Proteus’ island may be small and roughly formed compared to other games but because you’re unable to shoot or race anyone you’re given the excuse to simply enjoy the virtual landscape for what it is, and wonder at how it came to be and what it really represents. And if you resent applying those themes to the real world they seem all the more relevant when you consider how you usually interact with video game worlds. This seems an odd new feature though as it appears to contradict the game’s deeper themes about the impact of man on the environment and the unavoidable progress of time. There’s still no way to win (or lose) but the short playing time ensures the experience can never outstay its welcome, and when you do play again the randomly-generated landscape will be completely different (almost – the PlayStation 3 version use the time and location to generate its worlds so it is technically possible to see the same place twice). Proteus (PS3) – the changing of the seasons Do the animals look odd just because of the graphics or are they a hint that Proteus is meant to take place somewhere specifically not of this Earth? Is the nonsense sense of scale, where trees are gigantic but mountains can be climbed in moments, an accident or intentional? As you emerge from the ocean and into the game world you’re given no backstory or princess to save, and it’s entirely up to you where you go and what significance you choose to apply to the strangely empty buildings and quasi-alien fauna and flora. A huge sun looms over you like a protective sunflower, bathing light on the fractal geometry that recalls the magic of 8-bit graphics – and yet still allows for a fully explore-able 3D world.Īnd if there is any goal to Proteus it is exploration.
Proteus uses a much simpler form of procedurally generated visuals, but despite their abstract nature there’s an undeniable beauty to the island world in which you find yourself.
And without the attempt at photorealistic graphics. Perhaps the best way to describe Proteus is as Oblivion without the gameplay.