Rituals

I cannot recall why this is in my library, but it was pleasant enough. The rundown: It's a point and click adventure in first person perspective. Its minimalist aesthetic is rather pleasing. The puzzles aren't that hard, and if you get stuck (like I did once or twice) there's a very good walkthrough on the Steam page. The ambient music and sounds add to the atmosphere. I finished in 3 hours, which was just about the right amount of time to spend in this Myst-ish environment. Is it worth full price? Well, perhaps not. The story, for one, isn't all that compelling. But if it goes on sale and you like relaxing, abstract puzzling that doesn't often frustrate, give it a whirl.

Rituals is a point and click adventure game (originally titled The Official) released by solo developer Tymon Zgainski in 2015. It is a fixed position exploration game where you move from a specific point to another specific point and can’t walk freely, but can completely swivel your perspective around wherever you are to explore the environment and find objects to interact with. The game’s premise is that you are an office worker, alone in your office late at night. As you try to leave the office building, you get caught up in strange events and journey to strange places. You try to unravel the mystery of what is happening to you, and why. The gameplay is standard point and click puzzle stuff. Find items, use them on the environment to progress. Sometimes you need to combine them. The puzzles were never very difficult, and I was able to solve all of them without a guide or help. There was one part that stumped me for a little while, but with patience and experimentation I was eventually able to figure out how to progress past it. The graphics are a low polygon, 90s sort of style with eerie ambient music to provide the tone as you slowly unravel what’s happening. The storyline is delivered entirely in the form of notes you find scattered around, but the game also has a David Lynch-esque aspect to it where you travel through areas that are more dream and metaphor than literal, leaving room for you you to interpret what is happening which I appreciated. Rituals is 4.99 USD at full price, and can be completed in about an hour. There are two different endings, and some secrets that you could potentially miss on one playthrough, so it does have a little bit of replayability if you want to thoroughly explore it. I appreciated the straightforward gameplay, and the strange storyline that almost seemed to be in opposition to one another. I think if you enjoy point and click games, or atmospheric “walking simulators” and want something a brief, tight narrative experience you’d like this game. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the game, and if you’re interested please follow my Steam Curator page [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45265204/]Hidden Gem Highlights[/url] for reviews of lesser known titles like this of all genres.