AER – Memories of Old

This Swedish-developed indie title is definitely an enjoyable experience which will remind you of Zelda, especially Breath of the Wild. Minus the combat that is. This game has no combat at all and that's for the best. Instead it has an interesting flying mechanism which you use to travel between the different areas in the overworld. You visit various temples to gather pieces to continue to the next temple and so on. Storywise it's a simple but good story. You're awaken and chosen according to legends to save what's left of the world from darkness and evil. Much like... yeah you guessed it; Zelda Breath of the Wild. But around there the likeness of the games stops. The game relies heavily on platforming, both inside the temples and caves as well as outdoors on the various islands. There's minor puzzles to be done to inside the temples to reach your goals, usually to collect a piece of a key or such. The game is quite open world and doesn't feel too linear, with that said there are of course requirements to continue to the next temple and to finish the game. So let's talk about the ending. I won't spoil anything but it does leave you with a "Oh, but I want moreee"-feeling. Tough luck, the studio sadly closed down not long after the release of the game so no sequel is in development. I wouldn't say the ending is disappointing, but it does feel like a cliffhanger if anything. I do however recommend this game for people who want to try out a unique indie game. It's easy to get into, not hard at all to play and the lack of combat/death makes it quite accessible. I do recommend playing it with a controller though, since the controls for flying can be a bit iffy.

This is a nice and short (cca 4 hours) game with good environmental story telling. There are some light puzzles and platforming elements, I wished the controls were a bit more polished, the jumping felt a bit stiff, but served the purpose. There is a great locomotion mechanism where you can turn into a bird and fly, which felt good and made the open world exploration quick and fun. The main selling point is the atmosphere and writing. The game relies a lot on written text to explain the purpose of your journey. I really liked the short story and the way it was presented. There is no voice acting in this game. The sound and music fit well and support the atmosphere. I also liked the environment and overall visual design. The game is not long enough for the scenery to become repetitive and some welcomed variety is actually present. I just wished that the one still human populated part of the map would have more human NPCs. As it is now, the humans seem a bit out of place in this world, not really forming a believable functional social environment, even for a post-apocalyptic magical world like this, which was a bit immersion breaking for me. I hit zero bugs, glitches or technical issues. The game seem to be well polished. At least for AMD GPUs. I played on Linux (Fedora 35). I do not like numbered ratings, so I gave this 4/5, but it does not really mean anything other then "I liked it". If you have played the game Journey before and liked it and do not mind reading some text then this is likely a game for you. If you want something relaxing with a bit of world exploration this could also be a game for you. However if you are looking for a good platformer with tight controls and interesting puzzles then look somewhere else.

- technical issues (gamepad refuses to work, bypassed by mapping keyboard + mouse to gamepad) - pricey for being so short and basic in terms of mechanics - wonky human controls + the WOW feeling that you get when you fly for the first time, absolutely nailed it + simple but stunning visuals + dynamic and fitting music creates great relaxing atmosphere I sure hope the people behind this will continue making great games, and maybe reiterate on their experience gained while making Aer, to produce something with the same general feeling but maybe more content and mechanics <3

This is one of those where expectations are one of the main determinants of whether or not a certain game is going to feel satisfying for you. Most criticisms I have encountered come down to that. Some of what I'm going to say might sound negative. I assure you, it's neutral. Flight is soothing and never used for anything other than when you travel around an open but empty world. You can't use that at all inside despite some of the inside areas being kind of big and featuring travel and backtracking. The ending does not deliver all of the things we expect from video games today, but ultimately I would argue it shouldn't. Don't get me wrong, if this cut to credits just 30 seconds earlier I would find it deeply frustrating. It's very much one of those things where they don't give you what you want, but something interesting and unexpected instead. This was clearly a passion Project. The platforming like everything else about this is never actually challenging. There are no fail states. If you miss a jump you just have to walk and jump to get back to the part that you failed at. Similar for the puzzles which you can brute force if you feel like. And otherwise, the solutions tend to be easy to get to. They're based around jumping, pattern matching, and that sort of thing. All of these gameplay elements help you appreciate the world that this puts you in, and allow you at least some engaging with it. This game is somewhat similar to Dear Esther and Adios; it's not so much that you are engaging in challenging gameplay as you are moving through a compelling short story. I love all three of these; I wouldn't if they were just a third longer than they are. The achievements encourage you to explore, There could be more of them and this could also easily have implemented collectibles, if they wanted to increase replayability. Personally, I don't think I'm likely to play this a second time, though I wouldn't rule out going back and taking flight again. A great way to de-stress.

Finished in a day. This has wonderful flight, interesting puzzles, and good platforming mechanics. Beautfiul art, but it is a very short game and the ending is very "that's it?"