Xbox Review | DE-EXIT – Eternal Matters

“It’s an adventure that needs to be experienced by the individual and I believe most people would be blown away by the level design and elements that joined together.”

You think you’re dead, that your entire existence has ended until the light of the vitatree chooses you to live on in the afterlife as a Lux, repairing the plane of memory to secure the nexus from the corruption which will inevitably consume it if not stopped soon. The remaining two of the nine guardians, Asem and Donovan, are at two ends of the scale; one is still pure and friendly whereas the other has turned into an evil presence everyone fears is becoming an increasingly more significant threat to society. That’s where you come in. As a Lux – sneak past the ‘hidden’, complete puzzles, and help repair the pillars to secure safety for the nox. DE-EXIT- Eternal Matters has been developed by Sandbloom Studio and published by HandyGames to bring us a puzzling platformer with elements of stealth that you must overcome if you are to stand any chance of saving this fast-collapsing world from devastating destruction. It’s certainly unique and I’ll explain more about how I perceived the game below.

That’s a suspicious-looking cube. I wonder what its purpose could be. Only one way to find out – Go Artifact, Go!

Things I liked!

• Exceptional audio | My favourite feature of DE-EXIT was the outstanding audio from every possible angle. The soundtrack was phenomenal, creating an almost perfect atmosphere in differing situations – whether you’re in an intense boss fight, having a cutscene conversation, or solving puzzles – which made me feel more engrossed in whatever I was doing. The voice acting quality was brilliant from every NPC in DE-EXIT and happily shocked/surprised me because even AAA games fail to achieve this. Sound effects also stood out and have been created well to match their actions. Honestly, whoever created and designed the audio for DE-EXIT needs to give themself/ves a massive pat on the back!

• Interesting story and lore | DE-EXIT is a beautiful game which has an interesting story, managing to excel in all areas. I won’t be mentioning any spoilers but I will say the story took turns and events occurred that I did not expect, making my progression more exciting. I also spent some time searching around both the main area and in chapters for any lore I could get my hands on as this gave even more detail to the story, past events, and NPCs which you have to read if you are to view the full picture and get all the essential information. Knowledge is power at the end of the day and as the Lux, you’ll need all the power you can get; an incredible effort by the developers.

• Unique setting and appearance | From almost the beginning, you find out you’re actually in the afterlife and living your second existence. It explained why everyone resembled skeletons during my journey – even the birds and cats scattered around. The cinematic cutscenes are intense and convey emotions well by being combined with the audio. Regarding the visuals, they’re gorgeously colourful and most of the game has been created using voxel display elements, one of the first I’ve played of this kind which had me smiling in awe of how spectacular everything appeared. Each chapter has a different environment, making each chapter feel fresh and something to look forward to exploring. DE-EXIT stands out among other games of its genre because of its afterlife setting and unique appearance. The development team should be praised for their ability to create such an incredible-looking game.

• Different mechanics | Light is the main mechanic and power in DE-EXIT as you are given a special artifact which allows you to wield unique abilities. From lighting the way with a simple ‘light ray’, being able to manipulate or rotate objects and another ability I’ll keep a secret, you’ll be tasked with working out when and where these need to be used. Sometimes a mixture is required but as time goes on, it becomes easier to gauge how to use your powers for good, never evil – Don’t listen to Donovan! These mechanics make the gameplay fun and interactive to learn while giving you new abilities to look forward to as you unlock them. There are no complaints from me.

• Diverse gameplay | In addition to having your unique light abilities to use, each level has different elements for you to come to terms with that are unique to that chapter which split up the gameplay, keeping me intrigued and compelled to uncover more. I don’t want to spoil what these are as I think it’s up to the player to discover the lands you’ll be transported to but they kept the game refreshing. There are even new NPCs in every area to talk to and get to know. It’s an adventure that needs to be experienced by the individual and I believe most people would be blown away by the level design and elements joined together. Repetition barely shows itself and that is something I think most people will say is music to their ears.

All this mystic energy surrounding me feels magnificent.

Neither good nor bad

• Puzzle solutions | I suffered greatly from overthinking when trying to solve various puzzles during my time playing DE-EXIT and this was entirely my problem, nothing to do with the game itself. The solutions often just need logical thinking but I always made sure to look around everywhere, worried I may miss something vital to the solution. I’m happy to say the puzzles progressively get harder through the chapters and some will require some out-of-the-box thinking to get through them. My issue with the puzzle solutions was that some objects needed to complete them were incredibly hard to find/see, making me question if I was doing things correctly. It’s a tiny issue in the grand scheme of things but it did irritate me a little.

• Length and replayability | DE-EXIT only had one true playthrough – there are no side quests or different endings you can achieve, leaving it lacking in its replayability factor. However, if you miss out on grabbing any of the miscellaneous achievements, be prepared as you will have to start the game again so there could be different reasons to do a second playthrough. The game’s length for what it offers is reasonable so I have very little quarrel with this; it’s not the shortest but doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s just a shame that you will have to do a fresh run if you pass by chapters and miss their collectables or specific achievements but more on this later in the review.

• Controls and inputs | The overall controls of DE-EXIT are straightforward and shouldn’t pose too much of an issue for players to get used to. Jumping, running and crouching are all one-button commands whereas using your light abilities will require you to select the one you need to use, needing different inputs. I got to grips with the controls almost immediately after I obtained them but they didn’t always seem to work. When clicking my triggers for them to activate, they didn’t always seem to receive my input. As for jumping and grabbing ledges, these are extremely temperamental; they present a challenge in themselves! NPC gets up first try, takes me around 10+ attempts to successfully mantle the ledge – NPC 1 Me 0. A little frustrating when it should be one of the easiest things to do.

Running around, saving The Plane of Memory and riding the corruption.

Things I disliked!

• No chapter selection or manual saving | The largest annoyance I had with DE-EXIT was the satisfactory checkpoint system and the non-existence of chapter selection. The checkpoints are sometimes spot on but can also be irritating, setting me back far further than I believed to be fair. Adding manual saves to the game could improve the consistency of where you are placed when either turning off the game or meeting an unfortunate fate. As for chapter selection, this was a no-brainer and needed to be included. It allows players to backtrack to the previous chapters to pick up any missable collectables or achievements instead of trekking through just to get back to what they’ve missed.

• Noticeable issues | To my disappointment, there were a handful of issues which presented themselves to me throughout my playthrough. Firstly, I was temporarily stuck during a ‘boss fight’ as a section of pathing was inaccessible due to the game placing me at an incorrect checkpoint after I’d fallen off the map. Thankfully, this was fixed with a restart of the game; things could’ve been much worse. Similarly again, during one chapter, I had to wait for assistance from an NPC but they failed to help me, leaving me stuck with nowhere to go. They just had to push the box a centimetre further! Once again, a quick reset allowed me to correctly put my trust back in the NPCs and move onwards. Next, I made a couple of decisions when solving puzzles because I was overcomplicating matters which then meant it would be impossible for me to progress without yet another, you guessed it, reset. A puzzle-restart feature could have been included to prevent matters such as this. Finally, the frame rate can drop dramatically in certain sections, making the gameplay troublesome and almost unplayable in rare situations.

How long did I play the review before publishing? Around 13 Hours
How long to beat the story? Approximately 10-12 Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 19/29 OR 645/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximately 12-15 Hours for One Playthrough, 20+ for multiple
You’ll love this game if you like these | Scarf, Omno, Wavetale