Roterra 4 - Magical Revolution

3d jigsaw/path-building/perspective manipulation puzzler series with a fairytale setting. the first two games are mobile-only, I was told it'd be too much work to adapt the controls to pc. would be fair enough, except I went in release order and controls are identical in all the games. in fact, this one has more (and much worse), so it's a fishy excuse to say the least. my reviews are largely the same as well, covering the whole series. despite the store page requirements, playing on win7 is possible. the unskippable intro (great start) is followed by a mobile tutorial with tapping (even better), part of the first of [b]35 long-ass levels[/b] unlocked one by one. later stages can take 20 minutes or more but there are checkpoints and [b]quitting saves checkpoint progress[/b], so there's that. can't replay an earlier level without losing progress on the current one though, which is stupid. since it's 3d and you're wandering a world made of cubes, [b]there's a lot of tedium to simply see what all the sides have[/b], then more to make them appear the right way on the right side. another unfortunate inclusion is [b]trial & error[/b], gotta keep rotating colored pillars and entering sometimes unmarked teleporters to find out what's up. there's a [b]hints toggle[/b] but it can make the screen too busy and incomprehensible with all the colors, a small gift and a big curse. even more annoying are [b]buttons that rotate a tile, or even multiple tiles, when you step on them and/or when you step off[/b], but the tiles themselves can only be rotated manually when you're standing on the button. that's how roterra 2 started right after a reused level from the first game for tutorial purposes, so that's where I gave up and moved on to this, ♥♥♥♥ that ♥♥♥♥. when I found out how big and samey the levels are, I didn't want to play all 100+ spread over 4 games anyway. I surprised myself by doing all 20 in the first game, more than half of the third and a few more of this one because not only did this also start early with this step off and rotate ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but see the next paragraph. eventually [b]enemies get introduced too, moving in real-time on set paths[/b]. and they don't simply stop if you block their way anymore, [b]you can die and be put back to the last switch or wherever, just what the series needed to one-up annoyances already present[/b]. [b]switching between characters[/b] is a pain too. there's a lot of it with the camera slowly panning and a window coming up to show what happened elsewhere. handy but often just a waste of time because of all the repetition, and sometimes it's the same screen anyway. there's a reason I don't like 3d puzzlers and [b]this one is simply more tedious than fun, nothing really challenging, just endless busywork[/b]. movement speed seemed fine at first but it really needs a setting to get around faster. [b]no level skip[/b] either. should've started with this: [b]controls are simply ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up[/b], even more so than in every subpar mobile port failing to realize [b]there is more than one button on a mouse and 100+ keys on a keyboard[/b]. nope, left click does everything. click to move, hold to rotate, hold and drag to rotate in 3d, same as on mobile. level selection is bad too, gotta swipe thumbnails one by one. the [b]keyboard is confined to menu navigation[/b], wasd/arrows plus enter, esc doesn't go back, nor does it bring up or close menus. alt does though, no idea why. can't switch characters with numbers, no hotkey for the hint toggle, nothing. not sure about the mobile version of this, but [b]the camera can be manipulated now, in the most ridiculous and useless way possible[/b]. and it would be an absolute must, as [b]fixed camera angles are often problematic, especially with lethal enemies in the picture[/b]. so, click the thumbnail in the corner, select 'rotate', 'tilt' or 'zoom', then adjust a single vertical bar to make those actions happen. here, a screenshot because it's truly unbelievable: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3392282129 and that's not all. left click while in this mode simply centers the map around the cursor, can't manipulate anything, then [b]click 'back' and the camera resets[/b]. what the actual ♥♥♥♥? standard camera manipulation with the right mouse button and the wheel would work, then let me play in the view I set. oh, and clicking the thumbnail again doesn't even remember the angles, goes back to the default overview setup. there's a reset button, in case you mess around with the single slider too much, but with everything reset all the time, it's totally unnecessary. settings are barebones but available anytime, and they come up every time a level starts too, wonderful. separate volumes (only toggles on mobile), languages, hints toggle, check controller mapping, the end. no windowed mode, resolutions or gfx settings. the how to play section is just a video of the beginning of the first level, which is a tutorial anyway, and it can't be paused. weirdly, the same thing in the first two games is just screens to navigate at your own pace, much better. as usual, the concept is fine, the execution is not, and asking $10 on pc for a $5 mobile game is a joke anyway. still better than 15 or 20 like some scummy devs do, but the way this works (or doesn't) is not something to recommend.

[b]TLDR[/b] A casual and mildly interesting labyrinth puzzle game, ruined by an awful desktop port. [6/20⭐, 5h🏅, 2/5💡] [b]Context[/b] Roterra 4 is a casual labyrinth game where the players has to rotate pieces of the map to build a path for the characters. From what I can tell, this is the 4th entry in a series of mobile games. And this is the origin of the game’s major fault, as it clearly isn’t prepared to be played in a desktop. [b]Writing[/b] There’s not much that can be called a plot here. The game seems to follow a king, a queen and a wizard searching for a crown. It seems that the king and the queen are allies and the wizard an enemy, but even that is dubious since in some levels they all seem to collaborate. [b]Aesthetics[/b] Visuals are simple, low-polygon and stylized. They are decent enough for a game of this nature. The soundtrack is generic and a bit cheesy. There is no voice acting. [b]Gameplay[/b] You control characters through a labyrinth-like 3D grid, while at the same time manipulating the path that the characters travel on. This is achieved by rotating the cubes that make up the path. These cubes can be rotated in all directions, which is a bit annoying: since most of the faces of the cube are hidden, you have to blindly rotate to find helpful faces. Some levels require multiple characters to collaborate in reaching a solution. There are also some special cubes that have some level-specific side-effects, like moving pieces around. The puzzles are a bit repetitive and mostly straightforward, with only a couple of really creative ones (such as 31). In one of the levels (level 18) you have to rely on the perspective to perform impossible physics movements (think Monument Valley). For some reason, it only works in that level (I tried in others where the perspective also aligned). Inconsistent mechanics in a puzzle game are not a good sign. Yet, it would all be passable if not for the awful interface and controls, clearly a consequence of a lazy port from mobile. For instance, a click moves the character, a long click rotates a cube horizontally, and a click-and-swipe rotates a cube vertically; you may guess how well it works. There is no keyboard support whatsoever, not even to open the menu or to switch between the multiple characters. Astonishingly, you cannot move the camera perspective using controls, you have to open a menu and use sliders. Level progress is saved at checkpoints. You cannot die nor hit gameovers or deadends. You can restart levels, but cannot undo. [b]Value[/b] It took me about 5h to beat the 35 levels. There is a single progress slot, but you can revisit previous levels. Levels open up linearly. There are no achievements. I don’t see many reasons to replay this. [quote][i]For more puzzle-game reviews and curated lists check out the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43326007-The-Clueless-Adventurer-Puzzle-Trove/]Puzzle Trove[/url].[/i][/quote]

Roterra 4 ist ein Puzzlespiel, bei dem es darum geht, rechteckige Teile so zu drehen, dass die Spielfigur von A nach B kommt. Das könnte durchaus interessant sein, aber leider wird das mittelmässige Gameplay von weiteren groben Designfehlern völlig ins Negative gezogen. Von der grundsätzlichen Präsentation her ist das Spiel okay. Die Lowpoly-Grafik ist ziemlich unansehnlich, aber gerade noch ok. Der Sound ist durchschnittliches Gedudel, das man schnell vergisst, und auch das Gameplay ist... na ja, okay. Die Puzzles sind nett, aber nicht wirklich herausragend. Alles in allem wäre das ein völlig durchschnittliches Erlebnis, das man vielleicht spielen könnte, wenn nicht an anderer Stelle deutlich grössere Probleme vorhanden wäre. Und da steht ganz zuvorderst: die Steuerung. Die ist so derart clunky und mühsam, dass sie das eigentliche Puzzle oft eher behindert als ergänzt. Es ist offensichtlich, dass es sich hier um einen Port von einer Touchsteuerung handelt. Leider ist dieser so schlecht umgesetzt, dass es sowohl mit Gamepad als auch mit Maus und Tastatur oft mehr Kampf mit der Steuerung ist als mit den eigentlichen Rätseln. Besonders nervig ist dazu die Kamera. Warum kann ich die nicht frei bewegen? Dadurch werden viele Puzzles mühsamer, als sie sein müssten. Hinzu kommt, dass vieles schlicht nicht erklärt wird. Immer wieder ist nicht wirklich klar, was bestimmte Dinge überhaupt bewirken, und weil das Ganze sich so zäh steuert, wird das Herumprobieren zu einer echten Geduldsprobe. Besonders deutlich wird das beim Thema Story. Ja, die gibt es offenbar. Worum es geht? Keine Ahnung. Es gibt ein einziges, optionales Storyvideo, das man im Optionsmenü(!) aufrufen kann. Das hat aber weder Text noch Sprache und zeigt nur irgendwelche Figuren, die irgendetwas tun, sodass man am Ende genauso klug ist wie vorher. Fazit: Roterra 4 ist das Resultat, wenn ein durchschnittliches Spiel mit ohnehin schon sonderbaren Designentscheidungen auch noch schlecht portiert wird. Viel zu hakelige Steuerung, zu wenig Erklärung und eine seltsam unverständliche Story. Darum ganz klar: keine Empfehlung.

I didn't play it for a long time, but enough to see how the game works and to get a feel of the puzzles. In short, if you like puzzle games and don't mind the very dated PS1 3D graphics of the game, this might be an interesting game, but even then, the price seems a bit too high, since that are cheaper and more interesting puzzle games here on Steam. I'll mark recommended just because I use not recommended exclusively for unplayable and terrible games.