The new demo for Orbyss, the debut title from indie studio Misty Whale, has just landed on Steam. Developed by French creator Yannick Audéoud, Orbyss is a meditative but intricate puzzle game that trades twitchy reflex challenges for pure, unhurried logic. It’s the sort of game that feels just as good to think through as it does to look at.
Set in a bioluminescent world of glowing Orbs and creeping shadows, Orbyss casts you as a luminous spark of energy tasked with restoring light to a corrupted realm. The demo wastes no time in showing off its headline mechanic: simultaneous Orb control. You can jump between multiple Orbs (essentially playing co-op with yourself) to trigger switches, manipulate time, and solve spatial puzzles that often feel like mental gymnastics in slow motion.
It’s not just Orb swapping, though. Across its eight chapters, Orbyss layers in other mechanics, like freezing time to outmaneuver hazards, piloting drones, and solving sound-based challenges (with full visual cue support for accessibility). The result is a puzzle set that’s refreshingly varied without ever straying from the “think first” philosophy Audéoud set out to create. As he puts it, each room is “a poem of precision,” with no pixel-perfect jumps or reflex gates to break the flow.
The art direction leans heavily into a Tron-like neon aesthetic, blending abstract geometry with hints of an alien ecosystem. At times, the contrast between serene glows and encroaching darkness feels almost painterly, though you’re often too busy figuring out how to bend time or sync your Orbs to fully appreciate it. Pierre Estève’s atmospheric soundtrack quietly reinforces that tension, making every solved puzzle feel like a small push against the encroaching void.
The full release promises over 40 handcrafted puzzles, boss encounters, and optional challenges for the perfectionists who want to find “elegant” solutions with minimal moves. For now, the free demo gives a generous taste of what’s to come, and I walked away feeling like I’d just been given a puzzle box that rewards both patience and curiosity.
Orbyss demands focus. And in a genre often dominated by frantic reaction times, that’s a rare and welcome light in the dark.
The Orbyss demo is available now on Steam, with the full game set to launch soon on PC.
