This gorgeous microcosmic mech game just about survives its more frustrating moments.
High up where the branches get icy, a snowstorm set in. The world was suddenly a thing of whiteness. Plodding on quite lost, I found a stranger in furs who offered to show me the way forward. We walked together, him giving occasional directions that I followed, the wind tugging at us as we went. For a few minutes the storm gave us space: there was nothing to do but find the path through this rolling blankness.
Flight School are good at moments like this. Moments that serve to remind me that this small team makes games that are quietly like no other. Creature in the Well blended end-of-the-world posthumanism with pinball and sparking electricity and, um, a creature in the well. It was stark and memorable. Stonefly is sort of sumo and sort of a collectathon and upgradeathon, but really it's something far more special. It's a mech game on the microcosmic scale. The mechs you pilot and steadily upgrade are insects, all bent legs and hidden wings, and these insects are exploring a world of twigs and bracken and falling leaves. The word horde on offer says it all: canopy, bramble, maple, nightlight.
The world you pilot your way through is truly beautiful. Stonefly tells the story of a young inventor on the trail of her father's mech, which she allowed to be stolen through a moment's carelessness. To get her father's rig back she sets off in a junker mech that will need regular improvements, and into a world of crackling bracken and lumpen moss where deeper mysteries await. Things are transformed from the perspective. Tree stumps are huge plateaus here, while mushrooms provide natural staircases. Catch a thermal upwards and you can move from one splindly branch of a tree to another, as if changing lanes on a highway, or you can leap between coils of creeper, dodging thorns. It's nature, but it also looks like handicraft, employing a sort of mid-century children's book aesthetic of textured paper and natural shades. Someone used a glue pot on this game! The thing Stonefly can do with browns and greens and then the occasional flaming burst of orange or yellow? It's pretty much glorious.
Stonefly's landscapes can be tricky to navigate at first, although restarts when you hop yourself off a branch into the abyss are fairly quick, and there's the option to conjure a bunch of glittering little insects that will point the way to your next objective. The faff is worth the effort, though, because movement and navigation is ultimately a fairly pure thrill here. These worlds feel spindly and delicate, one layer stacked upon another. They're brilliant to explore, because they're all nook and all cranny. And they get the best from your mech, another thing that can take a bit of getting used to, slow on the ground but speedy when you hop back into the air. It's a spin on The Floor is Lava - spend as much time as you can in the ether where you can move swiftly, but be aware of the fact that when you're up there, unless you're riding a current, you'll slowly be coming back down to earth the whole while. Time your hops to get air when you want it. Spread your mech's wings and make the most of your mobility.
The game has two main focuses. The first is combat, which is typically inventive. The game's bucolic world is filled with bugs large and small, and you defeat them by flipping them onto their backs and then pushing them off the landscape into the depths. It's a two-stage maneuver even before you factor in the differing bugs' abilities - ram attacks, sudden spurts of toxic goop, nasty pincers, a weird sort of spiky inflatable thing - and the various techniques at your disposal as you upgrade. Basically, it's no good flipping a bug if you're nowhere near a drop to gust them over. You need to prioritise targets, but you also need to factor in the landscape around you.
Your mech's growing arsenal of abilities give you options. You can dance above bugs, pelting them to remove their armour. You can pound the ground or slow them or gust while dashing or drop funny little wind bombs. New options evolve over time in the form of new modules for your mech. They each require resources to build, however, and here's where we come to the second of the game's main focuses.
Resource collection is not Stonefly at its most successful, I think. It's nice to see the resources poking out of the ground in little glittering seams, and since your battles are generally centred on bugs who want to get at the same resources you do, there's yet another thing to think about while fighting. But the game uses a range of resources to pad things out and hold back progress. Missions - particularly towards the middle of the game - increasingly send you out to search for huge hoards of resources to build critical components for the mech. This means grinding back over landscapes you've already visited, or tracking down the Alpha Aphids, huge insects who have resources erupting from their backs - moveable feasts you must first locate and then scavenge, battling around on them until your timer runs out, at which point you have to track them down again and repeat everything.
It's not ideal, but for me it wasn't enjoyment-shattering. I like the battling, particularly when you get a few key upgrades like a portable wind dome that allows you to sit within it and harvest resources while keeping everyone else out. I like the steady increase of different enemies. And in truth, I don't need much of an excuse to revisit such beautiful, intricate levels, bird's nests and bonfire stacks of possibility, each one. This is the work of a small team, and if resource-hunting is the best way to build out a game of such glittering moments and ideas, so be it.
"The inventor you play as is inspired by the world around her, which means every so often, once a background objective has been achieved, a new idea will suddenly come to her."
Besides, while the mech upgrades are fine, what I really love is the way they're introduced. The inventor you play as is inspired by the world around her, which means every so often, once a background objective has been achieved, a new idea will suddenly come to her - a stronger shell, a bigger jump, something new to do with gusting wind attacks. I played the first act twice and her upgrade ideas came at me in a slightly different order the second time around. It felt very organic, like I was travelling with someone whose mind was sharp and curious, but easily distracted.
This fits beautifully into a game in which you follow the main character through her bug-battling days and then through her nights back at the camp with allies she can trade with and learn from. She goes to sleep and you sift through her uneasy dreams, as she deals with guilt and hope and puts the story she is living through into some kind of shape. Stonefly, like Creature in the Well, is a wonderfully odd game, even if it's made from recognisable elements. It frustrated me from time to time with its grinding, but ultimately I sort of loved it.
Read this article:
Stonefly review - a bug's life with all its grind and glory - Eurogamer.net
- Are the posthumans here yet? - Big Think - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Conference addresses transgression and taboo - Times of Malta - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Anthropocene research among Brock projects to receive $965000 in ... - Brock University - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- 11 Best Cyberpunk Movies You Should Watch Right Now - The Quirer - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- International literary conference explores the 'ecologies of childhood' - The UCSB Current - August 8th, 2023 [August 8th, 2023]
- Global History Helps Us to Understand How Colonization Shaped ... - The Daily | Case Western Reserve University - April 29th, 2023 [April 29th, 2023]
- 5 anime adaptations to celebrate the release of 'Knights of the Zodiac - New England Center for Investigative Reporting - April 29th, 2023 [April 29th, 2023]
- Posthumanism: A Philosophy for the 21st Century? - TheCollector - November 27th, 2022 [November 27th, 2022]
- Thirty-four faculty members to receive awards this fall | The University Record - The University Record - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Liberal Arts in the Age of Illiberalism - The Wire - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Open call: 2022 International Residency - Announcements - e-flux - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- More than just mushrooms: fungi class expands students worldview | The ... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Why Artists Are Returning to 'Oceanic Thinking' - ArtReview - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Top 20 NJ Arts Events of the Week: Crawfish Fest, Coldplay, 'Three Sisters,' 'Grease,' more - njarts.net - June 7th, 2022 [June 7th, 2022]
- Galleries round-up: Wildlife artists bring nature to life...and the magic of Morris - Yahoo News UK - May 7th, 2022 [May 7th, 2022]
- What Is Left Of Being Human? On the Anthropology of Trans- and Posthumanism - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - April 27th, 2022 [April 27th, 2022]
- 'The Milk of Dreams' Tests a Theory of the Posthuman - frieze.com - April 27th, 2022 [April 27th, 2022]
- Tony Vinci's apocalypse course takes students beyond the end of the world to find... - Ohio University - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- Cardinal Mller: Demanding abortion as a human right is unsurpassable in its cynicism - Catholic World Report - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- ICAS 22 Conference - Posthumanism and the Anthropocene | H ... - December 22nd, 2021 [December 22nd, 2021]
- Book on Alzheimers published by UoH faculty - The Hans India - December 22nd, 2021 [December 22nd, 2021]
- Panel 1: Critical Posthumanism and Italian Cinema and ... - December 19th, 2021 [December 19th, 2021]
- What is Posthumanism, and Why Should You Care ... - December 9th, 2021 [December 9th, 2021]
- Iris van Herpen - Wikipedia - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- Using transdisciplinary approaches to find solutions to wicked problems - Times of Malta - October 5th, 2021 [October 5th, 2021]
- Radical Austria: Everything is Architecture - Announcements - E-Flux - September 16th, 2021 [September 16th, 2021]
- Culture Night 2021: 21 events to catch on Friday, right around Ireland - The Irish Times - September 16th, 2021 [September 16th, 2021]
- Adam Jasper on Olafur Eliasson at the Fondation Beyeler - Artforum - September 2nd, 2021 [September 2nd, 2021]
- Peak Performances will be as adventurous as ever in its 2021-22 season - njarts.net - September 2nd, 2021 [September 2nd, 2021]
- University of Huddersfield presents 10 projects that respond to unfamiliar cultural contexts - Dezeen - July 29th, 2021 [July 29th, 2021]
- WM | whitehot magazine of contemporary art | Density Betrays Us at The Hole - whitehotmagazine.com - July 27th, 2021 [July 27th, 2021]
- Questions of the Humanities and its 'Value' - The Wire - July 27th, 2021 [July 27th, 2021]
- Jreg Wiki | Fandom - July 23rd, 2021 [July 23rd, 2021]
- New Materialism(s) Critical Posthumanism Network - June 27th, 2021 [June 27th, 2021]
- From the Periphery: Alternative Futures and Speculative Storytelling - MutualArt.com - June 20th, 2021 [June 20th, 2021]
- Between dystopia and utopia, Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Klara and the Sun' is about being human - The Tribune - April 23rd, 2021 [April 23rd, 2021]
- Artist Phoebe Beasley Reflects on Life and MIGRATIONS - SF Weekly - April 11th, 2021 [April 11th, 2021]
- The Art Academy of Latvia is opening the application process for POST a new specialization of master's programme in art | Press Releases - leta.lv - April 11th, 2021 [April 11th, 2021]
- Posthumanist Confinement : Big Tech's 'Societies of Control' | Economic and Political Weekly - Economic and Political Weekly - March 21st, 2021 [March 21st, 2021]
- Everything, All At Once, Through the Eyes of WangShui - Interview - December 19th, 2020 [December 19th, 2020]
- 10 Web Design and UX Trends to drive better conversion rate - TechGenyz - April 9th, 2020 [April 9th, 2020]
- Cosmodeism: Prologue to a Theology of Transhumanism - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - March 31st, 2020 [March 31st, 2020]
- Robots and Ethics in the Digital Age ML Con Keynote Livestream - JAXenter - December 13th, 2019 [December 13th, 2019]
- Posthumanism Theory - Technical Communication Body of ... - November 20th, 2019 [November 20th, 2019]
- Critical Posthumanism Critical Posthumanism Network - November 20th, 2019 [November 20th, 2019]
- Harry T Dyer - The Conversation UK - August 11th, 2017 [August 11th, 2017]
- Cyborg anthropology - Wikipedia - July 12th, 2017 [July 12th, 2017]
- Gabriel S De Anda | Writer - July 5th, 2017 [July 5th, 2017]
- Super Sad True Love Story - Wikipedia - July 3rd, 2017 [July 3rd, 2017]
- Posthumanism | Literature in a Wired World Wiki | Fandom ... - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- Human Geography Master's celebrates 25 years - University of Bristol - June 25th, 2017 [June 25th, 2017]
- Epigenetic Television: The Penetrating Love of Orphan Black - lareviewofbooks - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- The Ghost in the Ghost - lareviewofbooks - April 19th, 2017 [April 19th, 2017]
- Screen/Print #52: Shela Sheikh Searches for New Political Vocabularies in 'And Now: Architecture Against a Developer ... - Archinect - April 10th, 2017 [April 10th, 2017]
- Screen/Print #52: Sheila Sheikh Searches for New Political Vocabularies in 'And Now: Architecture Against a ... - Archinect - April 7th, 2017 [April 7th, 2017]
- Darwin, Marx, and Freud: The Genealogy of "Posthumanism ... - April 3rd, 2017 [April 3rd, 2017]
- Tidbits 3/27/2017 - ReporterNews.com - April 2nd, 2017 [April 2nd, 2017]
- 'Just who do you think you are? Holloway asks in annual Maston Lectures - Baptist Standard - March 31st, 2017 [March 31st, 2017]
- And even more 3/24/2017 - ReporterNews.com - March 29th, 2017 [March 29th, 2017]
- Most westerners distrust robots but what if they free us for a better life? - The Guardian - March 29th, 2017 [March 29th, 2017]
- Acknowledgment is Not Enough: Coming to Terms With Lovecraft's ... - lareviewofbooks - March 5th, 2017 [March 5th, 2017]
- Manifestly Haraway - Brooklyn Rail - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Talk utilizes postmodern approaches to explore images of the medieval body - NIU Today - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Denis Dutton on Bad Writing - December 7th, 2016 [December 7th, 2016]
- Wiley: Posthumanism - Pramod K. Nayar - July 29th, 2016 [July 29th, 2016]
- Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis: Stefan Herbrechter ... - July 23rd, 2016 [July 23rd, 2016]
- Humanism, Transhumanism and Posthumanism - July 3rd, 2016 [July 3rd, 2016]
- What Is Posthumanism? University of Minnesota Press - June 24th, 2016 [June 24th, 2016]
- Robert Brandom and Posthumanism - enemyindustry.net - June 21st, 2016 [June 21st, 2016]
- What is Posthumanism? | The Curator - June 16th, 2016 [June 16th, 2016]
- What is Posthumanism? | The Curator - June 15th, 2016 [June 15th, 2016]
- Deconstruction and Excision in Philosophical Posthumanism - June 13th, 2016 [June 13th, 2016]
- Beyond Humanism: Reflections on Trans- and Posthumanism - June 12th, 2016 [June 12th, 2016]
- Critical Posthumanism Network - June 12th, 2016 [June 12th, 2016]
- Posthumanism: A Christian Response | The Curator - June 12th, 2016 [June 12th, 2016]
- Posthumanism - March 27th, 2016 [March 27th, 2016]
- Posthumanism, technology and immortality - bethinking.org - March 24th, 2016 [March 24th, 2016]
- Calls for contributions to journals and books - ESSE - March 24th, 2016 [March 24th, 2016]