Annwn: the Otherworld

Ancient gamers like me remember The Sentinel (US: The Sentry), Geoff Crammond's first amazing release for ZX Spectrum, Commodore C64 and the Amstrad, an absolutely unique action-puzzle game that can genuinely claim to be one of the very first masterpieces of procedural generation. Annwyn: The Otherworld is a modern take on the formula. You start near the bottom of the level. A 'Watchman' (a.k.a Sentinel) occupies the very highest block of land on the island. He also spins clockwise on his axis absorbing anything that falls under his direct gaze: nothing containing energy higher than a tree is permitted. You have to avoid being absorbed while finding a way to reach high enough that you can see the block the Watchman is standing on so you can absorb him and complete the level. You do this through your own ability to absorb and build. Scattered about every island are tress that you can absorb to increase your energy store. You then spend energy to build duplicate versions of yourself, which Annwyn calls "Totems", that you can then transfer into, building higher and higher each time via means of blocks beneath your new totem (don't forget to re-absorb the version of yourself you just left!). If the Watchman sees you, he will start draining your energy, killing you if you don't get out of the way in time. Annwyan adds some RPG-lite elements to the mix, and some 'story blocks' that contain snippets of narrative for you to find on certain islands and collect along the way, all held together by a branching web of levels that open as you reach new ones. The devs have simplified the controls to only two buttons which is quite a splendid thing to see in this 30 year old game. In the modern era of super-quick 3D this is a much faster game than it used to be, forcing you to make split-second decisions. Having a very simple control scheme absolutely helps not get in the way of those decisions. Annwyn is presented very well, very cleanly and simply via untextured polygons and bloom lighting (Texturing dilutes and confuses the experience imo: I'm glad they resisted the temptation). Islands cover a range of environmental conditions, snow, storms, day/night and you'll often start an island with more than one Watchman in play, increasing the tension. Music is simple yet powerfully evocative of celtic mysticism: a wonderful choice for such an abstract experience. This is a fantastic update to an ancient classic (one of my all time favourite games ever). A great game to play in quick bursts when time is short.

"The Sentinel" is one of my all-time favorites, and this adds some elaborations on the basic formula that for the most part work wonderfully. Instead of rewarding you for ending a level with more energy by letting you leapfrog further into the game, you put energy points into transmitting and absorbing energy more quickly, because that takes time now and progresses as well as regresses automatically (hold down LMB and nothing becomes tree becomes totem rises on rocks); and into energy capacity because you start the next level with whatever you had at the end of the last, less expenditures. Dark maps and especially the levels which gradually flood, forcing you higher and higher, add some variety. A run takes place across a web of a couple dozen freshly generated maps, some of which indicate that they contain a "memory" you must interact with in order to unlock the final map. The prose has been quite solid overall, but I find myself wishing the "condone/condemn" mechanic was either limited to the final level or absent entirely. Graphics are merely serviceable but coherent and minimal enough that that's all they need to be. Sound and music are good. Difficulty feels appropriate (I am currently trying a no-upgrades run and having a blast), and levels are small enough that it's easy to go for one more try. It plays very well and being forced to hold your targets makes the game even more tense than the original, which is quite an accomplishment. Oh, and it works perfectly with Steam Play/Proton on Linux. There are a few very rare bugs, none critical: every several levels you might find a tree in midair or impossible to interact with, and I have once seen the menu slide animation when beginning a level loop indefinitely. The latter hasn't recurred after restarting the game.

While this is undoubtedly a great game and a real throwback to The Sentinel, It is far too easy and short. After maxxing the tech trees in 30 mins then completing the whole game in under two hours I requested a refund. This could be a magnificent game if they had expanded the game to have the same kind of richly diverse and large level tree as the original game. It does capture the edginess of the original, just too short and feels incomplete. Perhaps a sequel or more levels might spurn more interest.

Simple, but not necessarily easy! A nice game to keep on your toes and challenge your skills and nerves. The game has a bit of a learning curve, but after some time to learn the best tactics, it becomes a relaxing experience (until you get something wrong and so in an instant it isn't and you're on your toes again!) You can zoom in with the mouse wheel, which is something I had missed at the beginning!

I never played The Sentinel as a kid, though I was aware of its existence, so I didn't have a huge nostalgia factor coming to Annwn. I'd had the chance to play an earlier version at the PC Gamer Weekender last year and even without polish it struck me as immensely playable; that promise has been borne out nicely. The gameplay is simple at heart; absorb energy from the world around you, transmit it to create a new totem to house your spirit (since you're dead and "movement is for the living"), shift your soul into it until you reach a point where you can absorb The Watcher at the peak of an island. Simple, easy manipulation of a grid based map. The Watcher (also known as "that glowing bastard" "why won't he leave me alone" and "oh god he's coming back") spins on his pedestal. If he sees you, he'll drain your energy so game over if you have nowhere to jump to. Drained energy takes the form of Hounds, statues with limited field of vision that can also drain you. Unless you think fast things can get very nasty, very quickly. Get around them though and you can drain the Hounds, returning your energy to where it should be. IN YOU. The challenge is ramped up with weather conditions; some islands are covered in snow, others might have a thunderstorm in progress. I have no PROOF that building a massive totem tower in a thunderstorm is a bad thing but I was reluctant to risk the lightning! Additionally, some islands are unstable and start collapsing around you at intervals, while others may be in the dark of night, making long range planning impossible. Combinations of those conditions gave me some distinctly hair-raising moments, as I fled a collapse only so come into full view of the Watcher whose statue was masked by the dark... Procedurally generated maps keep the game fresh; there are potentially numerous ways to finish each level; some levels contain memory stones which allow you to rebuild your life before death stuck you in this afterlife and there's an experience system that lets you boost your abilities at the cost of energy saved up at the end of levels. The game isn't perfect; some of the randomisation can throw up the occasional impossibility and artefact (floating tree) and it's well worth tweaking the mouse sensitivity in the main menu to make sure you can get pixel perfect accuracy on the merest corner of a square. Overall, however, the gameplay is solid and challenging, the enemies utter sods and the "one more go" factor strong. I got a review copy for free; before the evening was done I'd bought a copy as a gift.

Stealth around an island as a soul. You can't move but you can grow a tree into a totem. The gameplay is pretty fun, it has good sound and good direction. The procedurally generated islands all feel very samey. Probably a little to expensive. https://youtu.be/8xMN_BIyP5E

I would like to say thank you, I have loved this game since I use to play it on my commodore 64 in the 80s still a great game and you remake has every thing the old one had and more. I have hundreds of games and this one go's to the top of the list

I loved The Sentinel back in the day and spent months trawling through all landscapes. This game is a great re-imagining of the original but is way too short and super easy for those who played the original. After playing through a few dozen islands I seldom found any that posed a challenge. I got through in around an hour and cycled through the game around 5 times in 7 hours. Not sure what the stones actually do besides slow you down on your goal. Perhaps a difficulty setting would be good. More watchers? Some sort of new archipelago once you complete the first. Nostalgia sure but not sure whether an hour of gameplay is worth the price of admission these days. Update: Now that achievements are now working and that the game now has multiple watchers and that the stones actually do something I've spent more time in the game and justified the cost of entry.

Annwn is an explicit remake of the BBC Micro game The Sentinel. You absorb trees and use them to build a skull to transmit your perspective to. You can absorb anything you can see the base of, and clear levels by absorbing Watchmen, so your goal is to reach the highest point possible to do this without being seen. A great and honestly relaxing puzzle game, once you get used to it.

so much tension from a relatively simple concept. avoid the light, and get to the top of the map. This game perfectly channels the soul of Geoff Crammond's The Sentinel and its followup (Sentinel Returns).