Eden Obscura

Eden Obscura is the second PixelJunk Eden game, released for mobile phones. It is a puzzle platformer where you control microscopic creatures called Grimps, and traverse gardens to collect Spectra. The mastermind behind the game's unique aesthetics is Baiyon, an independent artist from Kyoto, Japan. The main gimmick of Obscura is its use of the phone's camera. It uses visuals from real life and morphs them in the game to create unique visuals.

The game was recreated as PixelJunk Eden 2 for Nintendo Switch.

## Gameplay

The gameplay of Eden is quite simple. You can't walk around, rather you jump around to navigate levels. Jumping onto a object, usually a rock or plant, will make you cling onto it to jump onto another object. Plants allow you to swing around them using silk.

It is mandatory to grow your own plants to progress. To grow a plant of your own, you must first find a seed. Seeds are uncharged at the beginning of levels, and can only be charged with Pollen. Pollen pops out of Pollen Prowlers when they are defeated. Collect Pollen to charge the seed, then jump into it when it is fully charged to sprout the seed. Do this to progress further.

The main goal of the game is to collect Spectra. There is one hiding in each level, and its position depends on which version of the level you're playing. There are five versions of one level, each with its own unique color palette and Spectra position, marked as Alpha (

α

{\displaystyle \alpha }

), Beta (

B

{\displaystyle \mathrm {B} }

), Gamma (

γ

{\displaystyle \gamma }

), Epsilon (

E

{\displaystyle \mathrm {E} }

) and Omega (

Ω

{\displaystyle \Omega }

). Spectra and versions beyond Alpha do not appear in the Garden Collection, which is a casual no-timer version of the levels, where the goal is instead to pop as many seeds as you can.

You can find little Crystals hiding around the levels. Every 100 Crystals you collect wins you a certain number of Crystal Drops which are used in Spice generation. Every 100 seeds you pop wins you a Spice Bag, which contains a lot more Drops for Spices. Crystals can pop out of seeds, out of Pollen Prowlers if they defeat multiple in one jump, or out of lone Grimps when they are spoken to in a level. Spices can also be collected from the Store, either one free Spice a day, or a large Spice Bag via microtransactions. Spice Bags can also be generated using the Color Catcher, a gimmick in which you point your camera at a specific color in real life to fill a meter.

Crystals are no longer used for time. Each level has a strict 4 minute time limit before the level ends and the player loses a life. The player can start over from where they left off if they hit a Checkpoint. To add time to the timer, the player can use Spices with a time ability, a Grimp with a time-related ability, or use Swing Portals. By swinging on portals, the player can use light areas in real life using the camera to generate up to 35 extra seconds.

   Instead of a hub world, Eden Obscura opts for a queue based level system. The queue is randomized and the player must traverse all the levels in the queue in whatever order they choose, with whatever randomly selected unlocked Grimp they have. When all levels are cleared, a Prize Roulette is spun and the queue is randomized again. Collecting Spectra increases a meter in the corner, and when it reaches the threshold, you level up and win a new Grimp.

On the other side of the spectrum, if the player *fails* by losing all their lives, the failed garden is lost and the player must reshuffle the Grimps and the levels without a prize.

When the player unlocks a new level, it appears in the Garden Collection. Here, there is no timer or Spectra, and their only goal is to pop as many seeds as possible.

The game suffers a potentially game-breaking glitch. Every once in a great while, a garden will fail to load and it will crash the game. When returning, the player will lose a life. The only way to get past this glitch is by forcing to load the garden, crashing, losing a life, and repeating until all lives are lost, reshuffling the queue and resetting the glitch.

## Levels (Gardens)

Each level, or Garden, is named and modeled after a song. Or could it be that the level was made first, then the song was shaped around it? Either way, each Garden has its own unique music track, background and dominant color palette depending on the version of the level and how far the timer has gone.

Initially, only two gardens are unlocked. Four of the gardens can appear in the Roulette after clearing all gardens in the current queue. The other four gardens can only be played via unlocking them through microtransactions. Each DLC garden currently costs $2.99.

1. New eyes
2. 167 ghianda
3. Vent blanc [Roulette level]
4. RGBtoHSL [DLC level]
5. Ocaso en cenote [DLC level]
6. Capricious frog [Roulette level]
7. Schatten im licht [Roulette level]
8. Vista of a desert bird [DLC level]
9. Snip snip clang clang [Roulette level]
10. ~HSL() [DLC level]

## External links

Eden Obscura on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eden-obscura/id1248666805