On the surface, it certainly appears like Pan-Pan is your typical quirky indie game. It's meant as a throwback to an older genre - point-and-click adventure games - focusing on atmosphere, narrative, and whimsy, and it has a distinctive and colorful visual style, in this case reminiscent of another indie hit, Monument Valley. But, as mentioned elsewhere, greatness doesn't necessarily come from having the most unique elements just from being able to combine them into a high-quality package. So does this adventure about a stranded spacefarer end up constructing a truly solid vehicle, or does it needed to send out an even stronger S.O.S.?

Free entirely of dialogue (save for occasional Simlish-style noises indicating thought or discussion), Pan-Pan tells a fairly simplistic story. You control an individual who crash lands on an alien land and now needs to repair their weather balloon-style ship by gathering the five parts needed to get it going again. Of course, the parts have been scattered and you won't just be able to pick them up and take back without any issues. No, you'll need to explore various deserts, caves, forests, and more to retrieve them all, tackling the various obstacles with each area and becoming a true explorer in the process.

Immediately, this is where Pan-Pan's greatest strength lies. Not just in having an extremely gorgeous world to look at, but also one that makes perfect use of it's exploration elements, where the key to victory is in noticing every object and bit of scenery around you and how it may pay off later. Be it noticing the number of notches on a column or even just a nearby plug a with a symbol on it for a device that you pick up later, all of the puzzles are nicely laid out, easy to understand, and have the perfect level of challenge to offer. There is some backtracking required, as certain areas require a small jetpack or a club-like piece of wood to access, but even without a map, navigation is quite easy.

Controlling things is a snap, as is always the case with point-and-click games like these (heck, it's hard to screw it up instructions that basic). Your character moves at a nice and leisurely pace and interactive objects are always properly highlighted when near. There are the occasional issues in attempting to work with multiple objects that you're able to pick up in a single area, but it never becomes a hindrance. One also has to wonder why you can't interact with a few objects in certain ways, leading to one fruit-gathering puzzle that feels a tad counter-intuitive, but that's a rarity, and the simple approach of clicking and interacting with a single action works perfectly here otherwise.

Pan-Pan is extremely gorgeous, plain and simple. Everything is just so slick, smooth, vibrant, and cartoonish that it instantly becomes a feast for the eyes. It helps that everything around you just feel wonderfully calm and serene, helped out by the impressive ambient soundtrack. There's just something so zen-like about trotting past waterfalls and through bushes, gathering fireflies out of seeds dropped along the way, and other similar scenarios. The game's cast is quite small as well, but still conveys a great deal of personality through their designs and actions alone, providing some memorable folks to interact with.

Unfortunately, there is a flaw in the end, and it's one that even with some stunning trailers, you could figure out that the game may have simply by looking at and seeing that it's driven by a narrative: it's short. I'm not sure how, but something about Pan-Pan and other similar games always telegraph their smaller lengths in certain ways. Indeed, Pan-Pan only lasted a mere ninety minutes (although your ability to handle it's variety of puzzles comes into play here), and it leaves you wanting more in the end. Mind you, that isn't necessarily the worst, and it says a lot that the game is so engaging that it definitely feels longer, but this is still a world that could use even more expansion.

Also, as much as the game makes good use of having to rotate the camera to solve certain puzzles, the controls for the camera can take a bit of time to get used to. You have the option of either holding down the right button of the mouse and moving it around or using a combination of the A and D keys and the scroll wheel, but it does feel a tad awkward in the beginning, leading to some scenarios where you might find yourself suddenly zoomed in without intention. You get used to it quickly, and the point-and-click controls still work fine, but the memories of those initial struggles remain.

Closing Comments:

Pan-Pan may provide a short journey in the end, but it's definitely worth setting out on. If the absolutely stunning graphics and art style don't draw you in, then hopefully the intriguing world and enjoyable puzzles will. Some people have said that it looks like perfect game for a calm afternoon, and it does indeed feel like that, using its simplicity to great effect and providing an impressive trip that hits all the right levels of difficulty and immersion along the way. Even after you finally take off in your balloon-powered ship, the memories of the quirky little bit of escapism that the game gives you will linger for quite a while.