PixelJunk Eden is mesmerizing, visually
sumptuous, and insanely frustrating. The latter shouldn't come as a surprise: PixelJunk
Monsters,
the last digital download from Q-Games, was also brutally difficult. But with Eden, it feels like the game's
creators piled one too many limitations on players. As a flea-like creature
called a Grimp, you move through a stylized, two-dimensional garden. There are
two ways to progress from branch to precarious branch. Grimps can make long,
leap-of-faith jumps, or swing on a silk thread like a pint-sized Peter Parker.
The goal is to collect all five of each garden's "spectra." But these prizes
are well out of reach as each session begins. It's the Grimp's job to bust open
pods and use the resulting spores to nourish and grow the garden's many seeds.
These seeds will sprout into plants and other wisps that the Grimp can cling
onto and scale. The viscerally satisfying act of growing and exploring these
puzzle-like gardens is more than enough to keep PixelJunk Eden interesting. Time limits
and the annoying necessity of playing each garden more than five times to nab
all the spectra feel like padding. Still, these road bumps do little to
undermine this lovely game. The rhythmic swaying of newly grown plants and the
massive clouds of pollen that drift toward the ground below soothe as much as
the ticking clock tenses.