AETHER

Aether is a beautiful and very personal game created by Edmund McMillen (creator of Gish). The Flash version can be found at Armor Games or can be downloaded as an exe here.

The art, music, gameplay and story come together really well. Its spirit unfolds as you play through it and the final gameplay moment is really special. It means so much and ties everything together.

The only shame is that due to its lack of hand holding and unusual controls, most people won’t see it through to the end. These intentional design decisions hinder progress but add to the overall feel of the game – a difficult balance to decide upon then maintain throughout.

Beautifully sad but full of hope. There’s nothing quite like propelling yourself through space then crashing into a planetoid at full speed.