Following on from last week I decided to play Thirty Flights of Loving, the sequel to Gravity Bone. This one was kickstarted as part of the Idle Thumbs podcast, and eventually was released to steam for download. It follows on from the themes and story outlined in Gravity Bone, and even has more depth than the first.
You start Thirty Flights of Loving as an agent that must find his way into a secret hide out. A small poster on the wall explains the controls, and with this the game sets you on your way. Its once you set out on your mission is where you Now it may not be a coherent story, but its you that must do the job of making it one, constantly guessing whats coming next only for your presumptions to be turned upside down.
Game mechanics are fairly straight forward, you no longer have to use freeze spray or hammers to unlock things, instead this is a linear experience where you press E to interact with things or use WASD to move around. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but I did like the freeze and hammer combination in Gravity Bone, and would have liked Blendo Games to give it a go at other control systems, breaking them down to their core values.
Thirty Flights of Loving has all the core values which make up a AAA game, but does so at such a simple level that it’s hard to see them. The story is told in such a fantastic way, but misses a lot of specifics, so you’re left guessing as to why things are happening/what happened. This isn’t a bad thing at all, and in fact makes the player use their brain for once to create a narrative rather than just being a set of eyes. If leaves you feeling genuinely happy when you finish the game, a feeling that is hard to come by with modern games.
For its price, Thirty Flights of Loving is worth the investment, and certainly adds a depth to what Gravity Bone started. It’s currently £3.99 on Steam, which is great value, if you’re not sure about that (it is a short game like its predecessor) then it is on sale quite often, I think I picked my copy up for £1.49. Give it a go if you like Gravity Bone, you won’t be disappointed.
4/5
