9 (Unconventional) First-Person Video Games You Must Play

9. Pneuma: Breath Of Life

We're fine with developers making lofty promises if they deliver. In the trailer for the Xbox-Exclusive Pneuma, a quote claims gamers will "discover the genesis of a universe through the eyes of a god as he wrestles with the nature of reality." Relax. Pneuma hardly seems so controversial during gameplay. Feeling like a blood-relative of Portal - or more specifically, Quantum Conundrum - gamers will solve a succession of spatial challenges, room to room, as our controllable god monologues to himself, declaring pathetic affirmations of his supreme excellence... to no one in particular. There's no universe, remember? Solving environmental puzzles consists of shifting platforms and unlocking massive doors by aligning certain eye-shaped symbols with your line of sight. Developers have stated it "isn't about your skill with a controller," so we would have guessed some Kinect integration, if the motion-tracking peripheral hadn't been demoted. Frankly, it's as confusing as it is intriguing to see such an existential concept be given such a traditional, linear gameplay focus. The external simplicity of how the game functions seems to be a veil for something more metaphysically layered - a satire for the soul, perhaps? Maybe a game from the perspective of a comically lonely creator will give on-the-fence philosophers something to think on... or at least to laugh about.