Quern - Undying Thoughts

Narrative justification for being trapped on an island of puzzles starts off feeling rather weak but grows stronger as more is revealed about the characters and their backstories. The idea of what Quern is and how different people react to that can be interesting in flavouring how you would imagine to actually being trapped on this unchanging island which Professor Maythorn felt it was necessary to strategically disassemble because ~puzzles~ and ~worthiness~. This heavily coloured the way I made my decision for the final (and only) narrative choice of the game. It is a binary one, but not one which has an obvious right or wrong answer or leads to an obvious good or bad ending. It doesn't feel contrived that there is only a red and green option. The choice was a satisfying way to clarify my options about Quern and its characters, and end the game. Nice variety in puzzles (the ones in the garden were my favourites). There's a combination of item-based ones, environmental manipulation, logic, find and match codes, and the Simon Says. Some of them are very well signposted, others less so. Poke everything, twist it in every direction, and don't forget to read the item descriptions. Using pen and paper in addition to the sketchbook mechanic is recommended, especially since it only allows greyscale drawings. While you can also type notes it's very difficult to label parts of the sketches, for example with colours. The jump button seems to exist solely for the joy of jumping, but it also fixed the only glitch I encountered as trying to take a running leap off a ledge fixed the solved ladder recognition. Fantastic OST. Really adds to the atmosphere, great listening in its own right, and helps stop the trekking in between bits of puzzle become a drag. You can play nearly the whole game without sound though; there's only one puzzle closer to the end that truly requires it.

This is the best modern example of a recreation of both the form, function, and flavor of the original Myst and Riven games. It also has many of the nice to have updates for a more modern experience. As others have noted it does fall down a bit here or there, but these criticisms are by far and away exceeded by the excellent puzzle design and worldbuilding.

It looks great at first glance, but then starts to fall apart. While each new area is interesting to discover at first, the amount of back tracking makes it become tedious quickly. There are some clever, logical puzzles, but just as many illogical trial-and-error tasks. There are only a few songs that are very short and they play over and over and over. It is like being part of some sadistic lab experiment. The narrator even states that he's made everything as long-winded and annoying as humanly possible. An example task: you need to make a potion to use. Once you find the recipe for the potion, you have to write down how many parts of each potion you need. But then you have to make the sub-potions by mixing the right parts of berries, powders, and other potions. And since everything is in a weird language, you have to find and use a chart to decipher which each plant, berry, and potion actually is. I'm sure this is a wet dream for a person with OCD. It isn't so much about being intelligent or clever as it is doing mundane tasks over and over and over, walking back and forth to gather all the parts you need. It is really a terribly designed game. I don't understand all the high ratings. 2 stars for decent graphics and a few smart puzzles. But ultimately it feels like a job with little or no reward.

like any other Myst-like game, Quern is essentially a giant maze. But where a Cyan Worlds production like Obduction cames up short in the actual puzzle department, Quern has got you covered with a larger quantity of puzzles, and more of them will actually test your logic skills in a greater variety of ways. You will be required to think, not simply search for the next button or lever. Quern will also reward your curiosity. If it looks like something you can interact with, do it! If it doesn't look like something you can interact with, try interacting with it anyways! I wasn't curious enough and ended up brute-forcing one of the last puzzles in the game, which soured the ending a bit for me. Learn from my mistake! I knocked off only one star because Quern suffers from one QoL issue pretty much every game like it suffers from: walking, walking, walking. Quern isn't too bad since the island you're on is relatively compact, and not a wide sprawling mess like Obduction. Still, some kind of fast travel to go between areas you've visited before would go a long way in Myst-like games. If by some astronomical chance Cyan Worlds reads this, you guys got showed up by an indie production. It's time you stepped up your game. Myst and Riven are great, but it's time you stopped using them as life rings in this vast ocean known that is the "gaming industry."

I can recommend this game for any Myst fan and/or those who like logical puzzles that you can solve with enough patience, thought, and observation. On top of that, Quern is very beautiful, and its fully narrated story, while not extraordinary or that surprising, is interesting to follow and connects the other parts of the game very well. Thanks to the developers and GOG for a Linux version.