 Proteus received generally positive reviews following release, holding aggregate scores of 80 % and 78 % on Metacritic and GameRankings respectively for the Windows PC version. Eurogamer's Oli Welsh, PC Gamer's Tom Senior, and IGN writer Nathan Grayson all gave the game's changing audio praise, commenting on how it accompanied them through the game, with Grayson saying, "It's oddly captivating to just walk around and let [the sounds] wash over your surroundings". A review in Edge, though generally positive about the soundtrack, said that the music "never truly gets going", particularly because of the lack of drums in most seasons. A Shacknews staff poll named Proteus the seventh best game of 2013. Alice O 'Connor, writing for the website, called the game "delightfully devoid of explanation".
