One of the great things about indie games is certainly their tendency to be quite creative at times. Of course, going that route carries some risks since sometimes there are ideas that just aren’t going to fly. Thankfully, for the most part Airhead conceptually matches its concept with its name, and in terms of mechanics it does manage to simply do things differently.

In the game, you’ll start out as a body without a head at all, and the fact that there’s really no story or direction to speak of makes the early minutes a bit confusing, quite honestly. You’ll run around, trying to explore, and likely being a bit baffled at what look like air tanks that you’re unable to interact with, despite there not being much else around. Not too much further in, you’ll thankfully find a head, and then the game properly begins and suddenly the air tanks take on their significance.

While it isn’t explicitly explained, you’ll quickly learn that your head is pretty much constantly leaking air, meaning that as you move around you’ll be on the lookout for not only the way forward, but also the means to re-inflate your head. Normal tanks essentially act as your save point, getting you back to “max health” and making that the new spot you’ll start from. You’ll need to explore, experiment, work out puzzles which can be as simple as pulling or pushing rocks around, but then continue to get trickier with time and new abilities. In terms of the puzzle design and the game’s general concept it’s actually a pretty novel time. 

Unfortunately, in the execution of the bigger picture there are certainly some issues. The first is that the overall design of the map can be aggravating at times, usually when you manage to get yourself lost and left not really sure how to get from where you are to where you want to go. The fact that there’s no story or any attempt to get you hooked on anything more than its unique mechanics also isn’t helpful. You really need to just be all in on the concept or the experience starts to fade quickly. While I applaud it for being unique, I also wish it had more substance to better ensure consistent engagement.