Unmaze

ARTE Experience

In-app purchases

About this game

In this visual novel inspired by Greek mythology, you play as Ariadne and it is up to you to guide Asterion and Theseus out of the labyrinth.

Place your phone in the light to talk to Theseus, or in the shade to talk to Asterion. But be careful - the more you help one of them, the more the other gets lost. Help them make the right decisions as you face up to lots of different dangers, discover the secrets of the maze and perhaps manage to set them free.
Their fate now rests in your hands. Will your cunning, wisdom, perseverance and skill be enough to help you make the right choices?

• Play the first chapter for free (about 1 hour of play)
• Unlock the full game with an in-app purchase

• A new gameplay based on your phone's light sensor
• A contemporary adaptation of the myth of the Minotaur and the labyrinth
• Actions that directly influence the way the story plays out
• An immersive story full of twists and turns with 8 alternative endings
• A rich universe with 5 chapters and 10 mazes to explore
• A dark and mesmerising atmosphere

Note: Unmaze uses your phone's light sensor to adapt the experience to your light environment, including changing characters during the game. The purpose is only to analyze your light environment, no data will be recorded. The game cannot run without a working light sensor.

An interactive fable by Frédéric Jamain and Nicolas Pelloile-Oudart,
written with Thomas Cadène, the author of the comics Summer, Fluid, Alt-Life...
and illustrated by Florent Fortin.

Produced by UPIAN, HIVER PROD, edited and co-produced by ARTE, the European TV and digital culture channel. With the support of CNC, MEDIA EUROPE CREATIVE, RÉGION ILE-DE-FRANCE, LA PROCIREP.

© Upian - Hiver Prod - ARTE France - 2021

Ratings and reviews

Unmaze (Demo) is a game about Ariadne guiding Asterion, her brother, and Theseus, her boyfriend, out of a maze. She guides them one at a time and this is dependent on the phone's perception of how dark or how light it is in real life. It looks interesting, but the maze lacks reward for exploration and most of the dialogue is arguments or strong negative emotions (reasonable, but repetitive). In the end, the demo lacks a feeling of progress, both in understanding the maze and the characters. 2/5.

Interesting take on myth with a focus on character exploration. The background light mechanic gets finicky at times, but the light lock fixes it for the most part. I really admire the effort put into crafting the world and its different set pieces. Minus one star because the player character is unbearable. Gaslighting aside, she throws too many tantrums too often. The last two chapters she whines almost constantly. It's telling when the edgy teenager shows more maturity than her.

The main mechanism of the game is such an interesting concept and I absolutely love it! The story line is pretty decent, I just feel like there's so much arguing though. I don't think it's too bad because it makes sense since all the characters are in a stressful situation, though it would be nice if there was some more calm moments that lacked arguing. Exploring around the maze feels useless so it makes you just want to hit the objectives that are necessary to move on and then just leave.