Posted on: December 2, 2019

pastinflames

Games: 16 Reviews: 1

[SPOILER REVIEW] A mixed feeling left...

I just completed the game (total playing time of 13 hours or so with a few needed hints and pointers) and needed to vent my frustation... It definitely was a Cyan game and I liked it quite a lot. It didn't feel as good as OG Myst or Riven (my absolute favourite) but still, the worldbuilding was exactly on point. I was completly drawn in, from first arriving in Hunrath to slowly figuring out the mystery and traveling to different worlds. Most puzzles were easy and fair enough I think and build upon each other. The only part I found annoying were the extremely large chunks of backtracking one has to do. Sure, if you always know were exactly you need to go next this is minimal, but I would argue that most people need to do a lot of exploring to progress any further in this style of game. And I think the free-roam system contributes to this feeling, as the node based system of the older games does not feel as 'large' perhaps? I know that you can also choose this system in Obduction but the worlds feel much larger I think. But Oh Boy... I was not prepared for what would come. The final hard puzzle of the game (after that its all easy stuff thats left), the infamous Maze, almost made me quit completing the game and not come back. The gauntlet was quite cool I think but already went overboard with the amount of swapping and loading times one had to endure. Hah, how silly it seems now... Of my 13 hours of playtime 3 or 4 went into the maze. I spent the better part of last Sunday to solve it. It was such a chore to do. The constant backtracking, elevator up and downs and loading screens were insane. I can not remember any puzzle in any adventure game ever that was this unfun. The player should not be wasting extreme amount of time and clicking after he has figured out the puzzle. If it wasn't for the completion of the game and being invested in the story I would have given up. Not even glad I pushed through, it kind of left a bitter aftertaste even now.

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Posted on: November 1, 2021

ilovemuesli

Verified owner

Games: 104 Reviews: 1

Can't rebind keys

You cannot rebind keys and are stuck with WASD keys. Tough luck if you have another keyboard layout like me... Thus, unplayable game on my side.

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Posted on: July 15, 2019

dejavuman22

Verified owner

Games: 149 Reviews: 3

Trip back to my childhood

I obtained this game during one of GOG's giveaways, and after completing it, I feel a little bad for getting it for free. I have been playing Myst games since the first one originally came out, and I have missed this style of game so much. Started playing it, got sucked into its world, and my girlfriend sat down to see what I was playing, got sucked in, and we both spent the next ~6-8 hours playing this game, figuring out its secrets, and learning its lore. Absolutely loved it, and I will cherish those memories we made figuring out those puzzles. I loved it. There is unfortunately one significant flaw for me with this game. The ending. I will not spoil it, but I felt the ending was very disappointing and abrupt, as well as the final 20-30 minutes leading up to that ending. Not to mention that nightmare of a maze puzzle (AAAAH!) This is why I cannot give it higher than a 4/5. Despite that, I loved the journey my girlfriend and I took into this very strange and alien world, and despite the ending, we wanted to know more about this world, its people, and what happened after the credits rolled. I wouldn't trade that experience we shared for anything.

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Posted on: August 11, 2019

Highly_Elusive

Verified owner

Games: 231 Reviews: 10

Get your clipboard out, take some notes

This game is essentially a walking simulator with switch- and teleportation puzzles. Before I go any further: This game NEEDS an SSD. Without it, you will be driven mad by the loading screens in the second half of the game. With an SSD, the level usually loaded in within 10-20s for me. Graphics look beautiful, and apart from occasional minor stutters the game ran smoothly on my aging machine at 1080p on max settings (AMD FX-8350 @ 4,5GHz, gtx 970, 16GB RAM). The game's story is mostly told via written notes you find throughout the game world, though there are some audio/video elements too. Initially almost everything is locked down and your task is to get the place up and running again. There is one NPC who offers some vague guidance, but mostly you need to figure stuff out on your own. There are no quest or objection markers of any kind. No inventory either, you strictly manipulate objects in the game world. For the teleportation puzzles it's important to understand that the teleportation switches always swap an area around them with a similarly spaced area in another place. So you can use that to manipulate the environment, which means you need to be aware of what just swapped where, and how do you get the environment to be like you need it? You need some spacial awareness for this game. There's another type of teleportation that's more straightforward. Though even there it makes senses to note down on paper which exits connect together. There's also a complicated maze puzzle where you should sketch stuff before you start. Though the game has a functionality to take photos ingame and review them later. Without planing, you might have to take some rather long detours or endure many loading screens. The game world itself is well crafted, with much attention to detail. You get the feeling that some mysterious cataclysm happend not long ago, which drew me in. There is no combat at all though. Overall: Game is good, but not for the impatient or easily frustrated.

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Posted on: February 25, 2020

Wooly89

Verified owner

Games: 435 Reviews: 1

Great first half, boring second half.

Pros - Looks beautiful and has a quite yet mysterious atmosphere created by some nice ambient sounds and slow musical tracks. - Majority of the enviroments are quite interesting to explore, especially the main hub area. - First half of the game is interesting with a cool setup and some good puzzles. Cons - Second half of the game drags due to tedious teleportation puzzles. They're interesing at first but become much harder and drawn out due to the game's slow pace. - One of the final areas is very underutilised; to the point that it feels like it was rushed to meet a deadline. - Story starts off interesting but loses interest about halfway through, same with majorioty of the characters. Overall Starts off great but runs out of steam and becomes tedious by the halfway point. I wish it could've turned out better becuase I really wanted to full enjoy this game.

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