I was trying to find a game I was in the mood to play for a few days before I got a trade come through for this game. A shorter escape room game with a cosy, candle-lit, fantasy themed castle felt perfect.
Vaguely knowing it was an indie game, I went into it fairly blind with low expectations. Immediately on boot up I was genuinely surprised by how pretty it looked. It's such an aesthetic game. I was having a little gawk at the room you're dumped into, and then [b]bam[/b], a rogue voice.
I had a headset on, connected to my Steam Deck, and I don’t know how audio works in games, but I do know you probably avoid having the dialogue say “over here!” and the voice feel like it has no discernible source at all. It felt like a narrator, not a directional voice. The audio is a little janky in that way, but it’s not a big thing really. It just took me a second to find our narrator: the talking book.
Now, I have a low tolerance for cringe and cheesiness, but this was almost so overly cheesy that my meter was overpowered and I was okay with it? I honestly struggle to understand it myself. I can only assume that it was just so bad, that I figured it had to be intentional, rather than just being bad, if that makes sense? The humour was really dumb at times but I'd be lying if I said some of the jokes didn't have me smiling to myself.
I checked the discussions at one point for something and spotted a handful of people asking how to turn the book off, which, fair. For whatever reason he didn't bother me, but you have been warned.
The main mechanic in this game was something I did not expect but found fun, which was the potion making. As you progress, you unlock potion recipes that can do certain things, change your environment or yourself, in ways that help you progress past barriers. This within itself was inventive, with the actual potion making also being novel. It's quite a simple system, but I found it effective. I remember thinking, this is fun, I wonder how long it will be until the novelty wares off and making potions is tedious. Well, once you've brewed them once you can hit the auto-brew button to do it for you if you're really feeling lazy.
I'm not really a fan of fantasy games but I do enjoy the aesthetic that comes with the theme, and enjoyed the fact you can find items around that you could consider ‘spiritual’. Interacting with them you could read a bit about the items. Crystal balls, skulls, chalices, etc. How these items were used and thought of by the spiritual. I found this quite interesting, and actually quite a wholesome addition to the game.
In general I found this game to be quite chill. The music is nice, the lighting is soft with cosy candles and twinkling particle effects, it was quite a comfy game to play.
I love that this game can be played solo or in co-op. I imagine it's quite fun with friends. I played it alone, at great leisure, wondering off a few times, on a braindead cosy day-in where I just wanted comfort and to occasionally method-act as a potato😌 (of the genus: couch)
I hear this game can be completed fairly quickly by those with brain cells (How Long to Beat estimates 2 - 3 hours, which as a potato, could never be me), so with friends I imagine it could be even quicker.
The puzzles were engaging, and varied, and I found that this game had a great flow to it. I did get stuck once, and gave my partner the run-down of what was going on, to which he immediately found the answer (I tell myself I was just too close to the case 🕵️♀️🚬) which is unfortunate, but hey, what's a ‘tato to do? You just can't get the staff (brain activity) these days. ¯\_🥔_/¯
In terms of story, I think it's trying to do something here but honestly I barely comprehended what was going on. This may have had direct links to my *[i]mash[/i]*terful inability to *[i]sprout[/i]* ideas, the intellectual small *[i]fry[/i]* that I *[i]yam[/i]*, but it just felt a bit like it was trying to portray a story that they thought was quite smart but was actually just kind of… ehh.
Also, you're given a choice at the end which, I played it again out of curiosity and got scammed, it's the same ending both ways. This was kind of disappointing, and to me just proved the narrative generally has no legs to stand on. ᴸᶦᵏᵉ ᵐᵉ ˡᵒˡ ⁿᵒ ˡᵉᵍˢ 🥔 ⁽ᴵ'ˡˡ ˢᵗᵒᵖ⁾
Regardless of the above and any other criticisms, I still had a great time and very much enjoyed it. It was exactly what I wanted to play at that point in time.
Achievement wise, there are some collectables in this game that will require you to be pretty observant, but honestly they are easy to find. I enjoyed completing this one and would say it's on the easier side (I have commented a few tips).
[quote][b]Achievements:[/b] Included
You need to be observant, but on the easier side. [/quote]
[quote]For more reviews of this genre, check out my curator page [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45518898-The-Best-First-Person-Puzzle-Games/] The Best: First-Person Puzzle Games[/url][/quote]
