Aether (video game)

Aether is a Flash game released on September 3, 2008, created by Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel and published by Armor Games. The player takes on the role of a lonely boy who befriends an octopus-like monster. Together, they travel through space by using the monster’s long tongue to swing from clouds and asteroids, visiting other planets to solve puzzles. Restoring each planet from monochrome to color is the goal, as the boy searches for life he can relate to. The game is included in The Basement Collection.

McMillen and Glaiel built the game in 14 days. Both developers said they would like to see a version released on the Wii via the WiiWare service. Video game blogs gave Aether positive reviews for its unusual visual style and atmosphere. The single looping background music track received mixed feedback, and critics noted that the controls could have been improved before release.

**Gameplay**

Aether is a space adventure game with washed-out pastel colors and a soundtrack that shifts between piano, synthesizer, guitar, and percussion. There are five monochrome planets to explore, each with subdued hues. The player controls a lonely boy from Earth and the monster he befriends. The monster’s tongue is used to propel both characters through space and onto other planets. Each planet has its own unique soundtrack that grows louder as the player approaches. Every moon or planet exerts gravity on the player, so momentum is needed to escape orbit. To leave a planet, the player must latch the tongue onto a cloud above the surface, swing to gain momentum, then release and latch onto the next cloud, repeating until they break free. In space, gravity is absent, so the player drifts until they swing on a star or asteroid to change direction.

When traveling through space, approaching a planet pulls the player into its orbit. Each planet’s location is marked by a colored marker that disappears once its puzzle is solved. The player meets characters who can be helped by solving puzzles. Every planet except Earth has its own puzzle. The monster’s swinging ability is used in some puzzles—for example, on the hollow planet Gravida, the player must swing on crystals surrounding the core without repeating a crystal or breaking the chain. Solving a puzzle produces a flash of light, turning the monochrome planet to color, brightening its pastel hues, and making its soundtrack