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[Pranay]

Genre: Puzzle
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Giant Sparrow
Release Date:
PS+ users (US) 16th of October
PS+ users (EU) 17th of October
Normal PSN (US) 23rd of October
Normal PSN (EU) 24th of October
Will cost €12.99/£9.99 in EU. $14.99 in US
Compatible with Move and DualShock 3


About this game :

An independently-produced title, Unfinished Swan is a surreal maze game set in an entirely blank world. You find yourself chasing after a swan who has wandered off into a surreal, unfinished kingdom. The game begins in a completely white space, and you can throw paint to splatter the surroundings and reveal the world around you. Discover the land through further innovative new game mechanics to uncover your surroundings. Each level will bring new twists, challenges, and puzzles until you eventually come face-to-face with the eccentric King that built this realm.

Screenshots :

Videos :

Teaser Trailer
Story trailer
Move hands-on
Presentation with Ian Dallas

Reviews :

The Escapist 5/5

A must-play for any PlayStation owner, The Unfinished Swan is a short but brilliant exercise in broadening perception, and utilizing simplicity.

Push Square 100

The Unfinished Swan is the second generation-defining downloadable from Sony in eight months. Giant Sparrow's debut is a confident, creative tour-de-force – and it's one of the most imaginative adventures you'll ever play.

Eurogamer Italy 9/10

The Unfinished Swan is one of the best titles available for PS3, with its minimalistic graphics and its sublime soundtrack. Do we have finally a good reason to buy a Move controller? Yes, indeed!

Sixth Axis 9/10

Tragic, powerful and thought-provoking, but also intelligent, witty and beautiful - Giant Sparrow's debut is begging to be played.

IGN - 9/10

The Unfinished Swan is short and the challenges you face in the two-hour game aren't all that challenging -- but they don't need to be. This is a storybook for you to open up and get lost in.

Gaming Nexus 8.9/10

Giant Sparrow delivers one of the most unique games of the year. Sadly, The Unfinished Swan is a little too easy for its own good. Players can easily blow through the game in a couple hours. Still, the game's story is strong enough to keep you engaged from beginning to end. You've never seen anything like The Unfinished Swan before!

Vandal Online 8.2/10

A beautiful, intense but short surprise. A great experience anybody interested in games should buy, taking into account that its opening sequence feels way better than the rest of the gameplay, and that most players will only go through the story once, that is 4-5 hours tops.

Joystiq 4/5

The power of The Unfinished Swan – not unlike a Terry Gilliam film, coincidentally – lies in its engagement with our imagination, in its ability to remind us of that capacity for whimsy and fantasy. If your life could use a little less logic and a little more fascination, The Unfinished Swan should not be missed.

Game Informer 8/10

Similar to Journey, The Unfinished Swan is brief, visually stunning, and more focused on the experience than with testing combat skills or platforming prowess. Some collectibles are available in the form of hidden balloons and storybook pages, which might bring completionists back for additional playthroughs. While I feel that the overall experience didn't impact me as much as Journey, and won't stay with me as long, it still has plenty of unique ideas to offer.

PSN Stores 4/5

Short and sweet to its core, The Unfinished Swan really is the PlayStation Network’s bedtime story. You won’t find much challenge in the game’s puzzles, but what you will find is that something special which that inner child in all of us can adore.

Destructoid 7.5

If it had expanded the latter half of the adventure more and focused less on the plant puzzles, it would have been near-perfect.

Playstation Official Magazine UK 70

The Unfinished Swan deserves high praise for being inventive, unique and absolutely beautiful. But this shouldn't obscure the fact that these things apply more to the look and the core mechanic than the gameplay and how said mechanic meaningfully develops. The engagement with the narrative and characters isn't on a par with that of the top titles in a similar vein, and there's a lingering sense of what might have been.

Eurogamer - 6/10

The Unfinished Swan is gentle and beguiling, but also thematically patchy and insecure in its own merits, choosing to constantly introduce less interesting new gameplay systems rather than fully explore any single motif.

 

[Carl]

Bring it on

Nice OT, dude. Nice and simple.

 

[Pranay]

Bring it on

Nice OT, dude. Nice and simple.

My friend was making a nice banner, sadly he is busy with other work :\

Wanted to make a really special OT but i think everyone will be fine with a simplistic one

 

[V_Ben]

You forgot ours

http://www.psnstores.com/review/review-the-unfinished-swan/

 

[Pranay]

You forgot ours

http://www.psnstores.com/review/review-the-unfinished-swan/

I knew i was forgetting something

*adding*

 

[zroid]

heh, nice title.

Quite looking forward to this, was impressed with what little I have played.

 

[Kamek]

Damn, this game looks amazing. Can't wait to pick it up. I have to get a PSN card from the store tomorrow.

 

[Dog Problems]

I'm considering getting a three month subscription to Plus so I can buy this earlier.

 

[SteeloDMZ]

You know what I find kind of cool? This game is made by the dude who used to enter the warrior data in the Deadliest Warrior show.

Game looks very nice.

 

[wotta]

Our link is banned so here and I don't want to get banned cause I've been a gaffer for eight years.

But if you want then you can read it on shopto/news if you're interested.

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

Really looking forward to this. Yet another quirky and original PSN title

 

[Acquiescence]

Really picked the best time to be a PS+ member for three months; I'm incredibly eager to play this and sure as hell wouldn't want to wait a week more to do so. If it's even half as enchanting and moving as Journey then I'll be satisfied.

 

[Saint Gregory]

I never really expected Sony to be the king of these kind of high concept/experimental project games but I guess after stuff like Mark of the Kri and ICO/SotC last gen I should have.

 

[Brazil]

This looks pretty interesting... But $15 seems a bit too much.

 

[dmr87]

Sony bringing the short but sweet gaming experiences, looking good!

 

[AgentChris]

Classy OT. Getting this tomorrow.

 

[onQ123]

Wow at the scores.

 

[StuBurns]

So, how long is it?

 

[Jacksonlee]

idd Kotaku just spoil a part of the game? on the front page i mean...

thats what i feel like, although i kinda knew they'd be other colour schemes....

bah.

 

[Lord Error]

So far this is getting reviewed better than I expected, Eurogamer review aside. Going by some comments dropped in various threads I was expecting 6-7 scores all around, with IGN guy being the only one who liked the game.

 

[Dragon]

So, how long is it?

People are saying it's similar to Journey but has more replayability.

 

[StuBurns]

People are saying it's similar to Journey but has more replayability.

Sounds good. I've found the shorter games, which you can comfortably experience in a single sitting, really favorable this generation. I understand it's a tougher thing publishing wise, to take a gamble on these things, but the results are often very rewarding. Not there isn't plenty of room for the significant epic games too, of course.

 

[Shinjiru]

I'm really looking forward to this game!

I'm also tempted to join PS+ to get it early, but I think I can wait a week.

 

[Pranay]

Machinima 10/10

The word unique gets thrown around a lot in gaming, but The Unfinished Swan is truly unique, an experience not to be missed. It will show you that games don't need combat to be engaging, and they don't need color to strike a chord with your imagination. Simply put, this is one of the best games of the year, and my very favorite gaming experience of 2012.

http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2012/10/15/the-unfinished-swan-review/

 

[iNvid02]

got some money left in the wallet which i cant see myself spending on anything, i'll give it a go

 

[mrklaw]

Move vs ds3 - do any of the reviews mention benefits to the experience from using move? Not just talking about compatibility, but whether it plays better too

 

[Phthisis]

This game is absolutely incredible; shades of thatgamecompany.

My favorite game I've played this year, bar none.

 

[linko9]

I got Journey after reading all the glowing reviews, and got burned. That's just not my sort of game. I sort of want to check this out because of all the praise it's getting, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the same situation again. I just can't enjoy games that don't put gameplay first. I'd love to hear if there are any people that didn't like Journey, but enjoy this. Might spur me to check it out.

 

[Canis lupus]

I'm getting this! Love these original experiences.

 

[Doctor Decimate]

looks like another just-okay game that'll get fantastic reviews because people think it "advances the art form" or something

 

[Endo Punk]

Love the OT name! This game is definitely going to be added to my collection next week. Looks sublime.

 

[AbandonedTrolley]

Got £47 sitting in my PSN wallet and this will be purchased tomorrow when it releases in the EU. Cannot wait for another unique PSN experience.

 

[Psykotik]

anybody know how big the filesize is?

 

[Canis lupus]

looks like another just-okay game that'll get fantastic reviews because people think it "advances the art form" or something

What do you mean just okay? People like it because its something different and original.

 

[meta4]

looks like another just-okay game that'll get fantastic reviews because people think it "advances the art form" or something

Amazing insight.

 

[dreamfall]

It looks beautiful. Ready to use that Move! PS+ has been pretty awesome this year. Nice to have it early!

 

[kallisto76]

Truly Amazing!

 

[TTP]

Move vs ds3 - do any of the reviews mention benefits to the experience from using move? Not just talking about compatibility, but whether it plays better too

I prefer Move, but I'm biased.

Seriously tho, I don't like the way the game feels with the DS3. Since you are constantly throwing balls around, the camera moves a lot, somehow disrupting the beauty of the scene, if not the feeling of being there.

With Move, camera tends to be more steady so you can better appreciate the scenery (and its unveiling) while tossing balls over a wide area.

Also, you can turn faster with the Move. Edit: I mean, the max turn speed is higher with Move.

On a side note, IGN mentions walking with the Move feels tank-like. But that's true only if you use the Move alone (with no Navi) as you walk pulling the trigger. The game supports the Navi tho, so it controls just like any shooter. That is, you can strafe with the stick.

My analysis should be up in less than 2 days by the way.

Watch this video till minute 2 (don't watch further than that if you want to avoid spoilers) to see how it controls with the Move: http://youtu.be/uds9sPRQT2o?hd=1&t=1m5s

anybody know how big the filesize is?

1.5GB circa

 

[Joni]

I got Journey after reading all the glowing reviews, and got burned. That's just not my sort of game. I sort of want to check this out because of all the praise it's getting, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the same situation again. I just can't enjoy games that don't put gameplay first. I'd love to hear if there are any people that didn't like Journey, but enjoy this. Might spur me to check it out.

If you didn't like Journey, certainly don't try this one. Gameplay is minimal, replay value is only noteworthy for the first chapter, and it is way too short to warrant its current price tag. The Playstation Official Magazine UK review is the one that captures my sentinment on the game the best.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Excited for this

 

[bluemax]

I know a few of the dudes who worked on this, they are awesome people and I'm glad to see the praise they're getting. Hopefully lots of people buy this so they're able to continue making unique projects.

 

[Thrakier]

Hm, quite diverse reviews. Got to say judging from the videos it looks rather boring. How's the image quality? 1080p and FSAA?

 

[derExperte]

So no PS+ discount? I was looking forward to this but there are so many great 10-15€ games out right now (eg RCR, Mark of the Ninja today on Steam) that I can't justify to get everything. And if one of them is only two hours long... will wait for more impressions.

 

[TTP]

Hm, quite diverse reviews. Got to say judging from the videos it looks rather boring. How's the image quality? 1080p and FSAA?

720p. Not sure what AA tech they are using, but is super clean. Might be the GOW3 one (MLAA?) given the relationship with Santa Monica.

 

[Cheska]

Man, I feel like I'm jam packed with games right now but this has looked interesting since I first saw information about it. But I haven't even dug far into Tokyo Jungle yet, ahhh!

 

[wingz]

This game has really piqued my interest. I am really interested in trying it out after watching some videos/reviews. Good job on Sony's part for helping to publish games like this and Journey.

 

[firehawk12]

So the Giantbomb quick look confused me... do you need Move to play this or not?

 

[Jhriad]

Downloading now. Looking forward to playing this tomorrow.

 

[Raitosaito]

So the Giantbomb quick look confused me... do you need Move to play this or not?

No, a reviewer on GAF say you can play it with Dualshock

 

[firehawk12]

No, a reviewer on GAF say you can play it with Dualshock

Ah, great!