Arkaia: The Enigmatic Isle

Even though the developer directly states that Arkaia is very short, that still feels like an understatement. I have to say that this is not a "part one"; it's more like a teaser demo you would normally find for free on an indie website. That said, I've seen short walking simulators sell for higher prices on Steam, and this game actually has gameplay and puzzles that are satisfying to solve. If you're a Myst fan, I recommend picking this up. It's a fun enough little experience. Kind of reminds me of a shorter version of Elansar, which is another Myst-like on Steam that also costs $2. I'd have liked a more satisfying ending than [spoiler] a popup that essentially says "demo over!" - I was hoping one of the natives would knock me out![/spoiler] I unfortunately ran into a bug where my save file took everything out of my inventory and put it all back where I found it, but picking all the stuff back up got me back to where I was. Pros: - Good atmosphere - Neutral music - Good puzzles - Good interface - Inspired by Myst but not a blatant ripoff Cons: - Extremely short - Feels like a free demo - Still some bugs to squash Bottom line: - 7/10 for Myst fans, ?/10 for others

Arkaia is a game made by one man as an homage to the puzzle adventure games of yore alike Myst, Zork, and most of the games by The Adventure Company, among many others. It is also as it appears the first chapter for what seems to be an entire series. Personally speaking with the developer, it would seem that it is intended as more of a proof of concept rather than a full-fledged game, and in that, it definitely succeds, All the elements are there, puzzles, scenery, Myst-style point-and-click movement, and beautiful scenery. On the other hand, it is a proof-of-concept indeed, with all what that entails; outdated generation visuals, finicky puzzle controls, and hastily put together UI elements, along with one track for the entire game, which takes about 20-30 mins to complete. Why do I recommend it? The developer is upfront about it being a game in design, he is alone in development, and the price is very reasonible. A cause I can get behind. Maybe this is the start of his success story and I'll get to play a much better second chapter.

It's hard not to compare it to the Myst series. Unfortunately the famous series that it emulates is a really high standard to match. It's not as good visually or in terms of the puzzles. But it's a good game for less than a cup of coffee. It is quite short, but it has a promising story already established in this first chapter.

There's no secret that this game is very short...but it's a very good myst-like game...hoping there will be more chapters soon, or a full length game to come in the future

A love letter to Myst that misses the mark. I can't find anything to do. Maybe I just suck at puzzles. https://youtu.be/jlfcj6nhl4k

Not worth it for $2. It was incredibly short and I can get a better game in the app store for the same price that I can enjoy for much longer. And it just wasn't as fun as others like this. Great idea - I love the Myst genre, but fell really short.

The UI is very unhelpful. The color scheme makes finding objects extremely hard.

At first, I was convinced the game was simply broken on Linux. Turns out you need to wait several minutes for the main menu to start functioning. This is a puzzle game where the view is locked much like Myst's. In Myst, the view was locked to allow the devs to use fully prerendered screens, surpassing the graphical capabilities of the platform. This game uses basic 3d graphics, nothing taxing, so the benefit isn't there. Instead, the limited movement capability combines with repetitive scenery and poorly marked paths to make navigation difficult.