Quern - Undying Thoughts

I LOVE this game; as a fan of all the Myst games this scratched a big itch for me (especially since it came out before the Riven remake). The puzzles are imaginative, diverse, and span a range of difficulties. The music and visuals are incredibly atmospheric - always a huge plus for me - and I enjoyed the story; it even prompted quite a debate between my sister and I since we each preferred different endings. If you like puzzle games like I do then this was an 11/10 and you should definitely try it.

I love games like this, but unfortunately Quern is unplayable for me due to the poor technical execution. I'm trying to play the game on an AMD RX 5700 under Windows, and without VSync the game wastes GPU power like crazy (99% utilization and 80°C). With VSync the frame pacing is a horrible mess and doesn't even hit 60Hz. What's worse is that the movement and orientation seem linked to the framerate, so you'll get massive stutters that induce motion sickness. Trying to force it through the driver does nothing. Trying a soft cap limits the FPS, but utilization remains unreasonably high. I made it about an hour in but decided to abandon it, it's not worth wearing out my GPU no matter how good the atmosphere and the puzzles are.

There are many good things to say about this game. From the technical standpoint, it‘s very well made, the graphics are fine, there are almost no bugs and everything works as it should. That‘s quite a lot for a modern game. Still, I was angry at this game most of the time while playing it. It‘s trying to copy Myst and could have been better if not for that premise First, there‘s the music. Myst-like, but amounting to a horrible, monotonous plinking all the time, everywhere. Then there‘s the story. It‘s a very good idea in general, but told in a way that makes it boring beyond belief. The worst part is when the game stops in the middle for a ten minute story monologue presented by glowing blob with a power point presentation. And in the end you don‘t even get to see what happens at all. It also takes the puzzle island idea from Myst – but you never leave that island. Besides some rusty tunnels and a brief underwater section you are always in the same environment. Well made, but boring after some time. There are a few good puzzles in this game. I just got the feeling that they are almost all at the beginning and then decline in quality. After three quaters it starts throwing pipe puzzles at you and requires you to play a game of Mastermind, while you walk in a tunnle from puzzle to puzzle. It would have done the game good to cut out most of the weaker riddles for some exploration. Most of them are way to tedious, too. Many require an ungodly amount of running around just to check what you are doing. Some aren‘t even riddles, but just list of easy to mess up chores. Many others are repeated in different difficulties. Others require tasks to be repeated several times after you have allready found out what to do. It seems like the developers had a serious case of horror vacui with their puzzles. They were afraid to leave any kind of puzzle type short of crosswords out, tried to bind the player as long as possible – and cluttered a decent game.

I love playing games such as the earlier Myst games, the Rhem games, and the Witness. I was hoping to add Quern to that short list ... but sadly, I can't. The biggest letdowns for me are the puzzles and the linearity of the game. There is always only 1 puzzle to solve. The game looks nice, but I had to play it with all the settings turned down even though my laptop meets the requirements. Event then, my computer fans were on all the time (and very loud). I finished the game, but for me it felt too long.

The content, story, puzzles, and progression keep you sucked in and yearning for more. The only thing that finally made me quit playing was the choppy movement. After making every concievable alteration to game and graphics settings I had to give up. I do however wonder what the rest of the game would have been like to play. Great game, give it a try!