Vessel

About

Vessel tasks you with controlling a device that animates water-like substances into mechanical creatures. You play as Arkwright, a scientist navigating industrial environments where sentient liquids cause havoc. Each level requires building, manipulating, and destroying fluid constructs to solve physics-based puzzles. Combat elements blend with platforming as you repurpose the chaos around you. The game uses a 2.5D perspective to let you rotate and reshape environments in real time. The standout is its fluid simulation physics, which let you create soft-body machines on the fly. Puzzles often have multiple solutions depending on how you combine tools and materials. Metacritic scores it 82, with 85% of Steam reviews calling it "challenging but fair." Sparse dialogue lets the hand-drawn art and mechanical sound design carry the story. The 12-hour campaign mixes action and strategy in ways few indie titles attempt.

Storyline

Living liquid machines have overrun this world of unstoppable progress, and it is the role of their inventor, Arkwright, to stop the chaos they are causing.