Balloon Diaspora
Balloon Diaspora is a 3D first-person point-and-click adventure set in a
mysterious world. The main character crashes his balloon and needs six patches
to put it back together. He quickly meets Silas, a friendly character who
offers his help to collect the patches. Much of the gameplay is about
discovering the game’s world and strange culture, which is offered without
introduction. Characters have oblong shaped faces, perform strange tasks, and
travel around mainly with balloons, soaring through the clouds.
The game is in 3D, but cannot be explored freely with full movement controls.
Rather, like the Myst series, arrows show possible paths and clicking them
glides the player in that direction. There are minor puzzles, but these do not
require object manipulation. Instead, all problems and questions are resolved
through conversations and solving tasks. Through a number of a conversation
options at the beginning of the game, the protagonist also gets to shape his
own past. There are no objects to pick up and there also isn’t an inventory.
The mouse cursor immediately changes into the two available options: movement
or conversation.