Quern - Undying Thoughts

My wife and I were introduced to adventure video games with MYST, and then worked through the entire MYST franchise. We backed Cyan's Kickstarter Obduction campaign, and eventually worked through that game. In looking for something similar, while waiting for Cyan's next game (Firmament), I stumbled upon Quern. We agree that Quern is an amazing and beautiful game. The game is set in an intricate world of interesting buildings, machines, and natural objects. To find your way through this world, you must solve LOTS of puzzles of different types. We found some of the puzzles quite easy, and some more challenging. We played the game without any walkthrough help, but a few of the puzzles took us a while to figure out -- worth the wait to solve a puzzle, and to make something interesting and/or surprising happen. We highly recommend this game, and thank the developers for their using their imagination and skill to create it.

Like in Myst games, you'll end up in mysterious, beautiful but (mostly) deserted world. The puzzles start easy but get quite complicated although fair. Never had feeling "how the hell devs expected me to came up with right answer?". If you can't figure something out, it's probably because you missed something or misunderstood how this particular puzzle works, not because there wasn't sufficient clue anywhere. That said, the game has annoying habit to reuse some previously resolved puzzles later, so remember to also revisit seemingly finished puzzles if you're stuck.

Other reviewers have described the game aptly. I'll just add that the puzzles could have been a tad more difficult. Oftentimes I caught myself overthinking a puzzle, when the solution was actually quite simple. In fact, the clues you find are more often the complete solution than puzzle pieces that you need to combine in creative ways. One level of difficulty deeper would have been perfect So this game is easier than Myst: Riven, for example, which may suit some players. Otherwise, enjoy the beautiful artwork, relaxing background music and the serene island landscape. Just like in the timeless world of Quern, you won't even notice the time passing in real world.

I stumbled on this game while looking through Gog's offers. I am absolutely enjoying every event in this game. It sure looks like the authors were Myst game builders. The puzzles aer brilliant and the scenery is captivating. I highly recommend this game.

Wasn't a fan of this, although I did play through all of it. I have played some of Myst before and didn't like that either, so maybe this genre just isn't for me. I found the story and voice acting to be pretty cheesy, particularly Gamara's. There is a plot dump towards the end, too, which I never enjoy. Show me the story through the game world or in little pieces! Anyways, the puzzles. The range of difficulty here is pretty crazy in the order they are presented. Some are plain easy, and not really puzzles...more of click X thing a few times to get reward. There were some challenging puzzles that I enjoyed, but the vast majority of puzzles are deciphering notes by way of numbered / lettered tables and stuff like that. A select few puzzles build upon previous ones, but mostly you will be "relearning" how to do puzzles in each section, which I find tedious and annoying. I had to use a guide for some of the harder puzzles, but I mostly used the guide for things that looked way to annoying to spend time on. It could be that these types of games (Myst-likes?) aren't for me. The Witness might be one of my favorite games ever, though...I find it quite different from Myst and this game.