Give both sides of your brain a workout with Semisheres

How good are you at coordinating both sides of your brain?  Do you like solving two problems at once?  Are brainteasers your form of relaxation?  If these questions raise your curiosity and interest, then Semispheres from Vivid Helix might be for you.

"When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together." - Tadao Ando

Out of the gate, Semispheres gets right down to business.  Relaxing ambient music plays in the background as it presents you with the "WASD" on one side of the screen and the arrow keys on the other, and then it waits patiently.  Engage one of the "WASD" keys and a "ghosting" of the keys moves off the screen, while the game continues to wait.  Engage one of the arrow keys and the same "ghosting" move replicates on the other side before the next screen pops up.  So begins your journey into Semispheres.  The game never says a word, never shows you how to do anything.  It lets you discover each aspect on your own.

As a quick side note here, if you have an Xbox 360 controller, or equivalent, plugged into your computer then Semispheres will default to that instead.  I would highly recommend using a controller over the keyboard.  All you need to play is the twin sticks and triggers; it feels more natural that way.

This next screen will be the main hub.  You will see an orange and a blue sphere on either side of the screen and an active half blue, half orange circle.  Guide the spheres to the center of that circle and you are taken to a level that has an orange side and a blue side.  Each side may or may not be a mirror image, but the goal is the same.  Move the spheres to their active circles on their respective sides.

"I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells." - Dr. Seuss

As I said, Semispheres never gives you any instructions.  It lets you discover through trial and error how to solve each level.  It starts simple, but items will be added that help or hinder your progress.  Semispheres leaves it up to you to work out how each item works.  Some tools are noisemakers to distract "sentries.”  Others are portals that allow orange player spheres to distract blue sentries and vise versa.

As levels progress the puzzles players need to work out will seemingly become more complex, but that is not always the case.  There were a few times when I found myself overthinking a process, only to have the puzzle solved before I got through all the steps I’d worked out in my head.  Many of the puzzles you will be working on have you figuring out each side (semi) separately; there are a few you will have to work both spheres in concert to solve.  And in those few cases there it is often with a watcher chasing behind your spheres threatening to reset your puzzle.

Overall

Semispheres is a brainteaser game that wants to tickle your brain with a challenge, but let you relax into a pseudo-meditative or zen state.  The relaxing ambient music, courtesy of Sid Barnhoorn (composer for Antichamber, The Stanley Parable, and Out There), combined with the simple, dichromatic art style, help make Semispheres a joy to sit and work out your brain at your own pace.  Along the way, as a reward for finishing chapters, there is a story is told through comic strips about a boy and his robotic sphere.

Semispheres has 50 levels that play out over thirteen chapters.  It has won numerous awards at various shows and expos, and from what I’ve played (currently on a break from chapter twelve) they are well earned.  I hope to see a Semispheres II in the future.  I give Semispheres a 5 out of 5.

For more information see the official Semispheres website.