[h1]Overview[/h1]
[b]Areia: Pathway To Dawn[/b] is an exploration game with puzzle elements, set in a surreal and abstract environment heavily influenced by Indian folklore, while also Buddhist and Induist mythology references. Players impersonate an abstract character without a clear objective to follow except getting at the end of each scenario, either through classic platforming, puzzles, or the use of various creation powers to shape terrain.
On the good side, this title has a definitely unique art style, though not entirely original as idea, as it's clearly inspired to [i]Journey[/i] as far as style is concerned. Beautiful vistas and otherworldly scenarios are regular while playing Areia, even without a high level of detail, the game definitely manages to impress visually. The indirect narration story, is purposefully vague and every player will interpret it differently, which is one of the main points of this whole journey: be different for each individual. The puzzle segments and terrain altering powers contribute in giving some variety, and avoid the experience from getting excessively linear or stale. The additional presence of collectibles in the environment gives players something else to do apart from following the main flow, with some of them very hard to get.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1969417391
On the negative side, I felt like Areia could be much more enjoyed by someone with a cultural background that enables deeper understanding of the references and topic used in the game, as Areia doesn't explain any of it to players. For sure, people familiar with Buddhism, Induism or generally of Indian background, will probably understand this game a whole lot better than the average Joe. This is a negative point because instead of using a completely made-up lore, the game uses real-world lore so to speak, and therefore limits the understanding people can have, depending on their background. The puzzles are quite simple and do not pose much challenge, some more complex enigmas, optional even, would have pleased puzzle fans and added something more.
[b]Overall, Areia is a good exploration / puzzle game that offers a unique setting and art style, but also could be fully understood only by those with the right cultural background. It took me 3 hours to finish the game and also get all the collectibles I was able to, for a price of 7,50€ and no replay value, I can suggest getting this game at full price only to fans of the genre or people who have particular insight into the culture the game refers to, to everyone else I would instead suggest waiting for at least a few euros of sale to get their money's worth..[/b]
[h1]Rating:[/h1]
[b]Decent[/b]
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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1969417716
[h1]Pros & Cons[/h1]
🔵 [b]Pros[/b]
+ Unique, impressive art style capable of creating truly surreal landscapes to traverse.
+ Good soundtrack and audio effects that enhance immersion.
+ Presence of collectibles, puzzles and platforming to vary the "walking simulator" experience.
🔴 [b]Cons[/b]
- The game can only be fully understood with the right cultural background.
- Resolutions above 1920x1080 need manual game file editing to be enabled.
- High resource usage for the relatively simple graphics, sign of lacking optimization.
[h1]In-Depth Breakdown[/h1]
🎮 [b]Gameplay Analysis[/b]
The gameplay of Areia is divided into Exploration and Puzzles.
[b]Exploration[/b] is performed on foot, and from some point onwards, with the aid of terrain-shaping powers, allowing your character to absorb water and release it to create mud ramps to traverse obstacles like gaps and pitfalls, or make bridges out of sand in specific spots. Falling into deep water or pitfalls will respawn you at the last solid ground place you have been, there is no real death to speak of, just some backtracking at worse. There are some collectibles of sorts to gather at times, but their purpose remains a mystery, as all they do is displaying the location of the other similar ones in the world. In order to advance, there is some freedom of movement and path choice, but in general the game is linear and doesn't allow players to "skip" parts of it even if they would find a way, like by making particularly extreme jumps.
[b]Puzzles[/b] are about connecting platforms of the same color, using your own character as a medium, without crossing the flux of platforms with each others. They are quite simple and never really become a challenge, anyone with basic experience in puzzle games should solve them without trouble. solving puzzles unlocks environmental transformations that often allow to proceed and get to additional collectibles, if one wishes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1969417420
🔩 [b]Technical Analysis[/b]
[u]PC Specs: RTX2080Ti, Ryzen 3900X, 32GB RAM DDR4[/u]
The game doesn't have any performance or technical problems while playing, and runs well on this configuration in 1440p. It has to be noted that the maximum supported resolution in the options is 1920x1080 (1080p), to make it run in 2560x1440, specific game files need to be modified. Also, I have noticed a high GPU and PC resource usage for a game that has relatively simple geometry and effects for today's standards, a sign of optimization issues.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
Areia is definitely a suggestive, but also rather short narrative game, that has good style but sadly can only be understood in full by people with specific cultural backgrounds.
[i]This product was reviewed using a free key provided by the Developers[/i]
