The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav

The graphics are beautiful, we all agree on that. The story is clichéd, true, but I found it still enjoyable. I'd say it's kind of old style, nostalgic, in a cute and unashamed way. Recommended.

A standard story-driven third person perspective point-and-click adventure game that drew me in quite fast. The story is great and it's mostly very well written. There's a powerful, if not heartbreaking midpoint climax, and the conclusion feels right. I could write more here but I wouldn't be able to avoid spoilers in order to praise the power of the story. A straightforward fantasy, but although magic is what propels it, it is the story of Geron and Nuri. The epic quest involved is a side effect really. The two protagonists are rather stereotypical but I found them adequately written and developed as per the requirements of the story being told here. The villain is interesting as he's not on a mindless mission to rule over the land but more on a personal quest. The puzzles are not very hard, but varied and never irrational. There are a couple of fairly more challenging areas. Overall the game paces along nicely as long you're thorough and exhaust all options. The environments are never boring with the orc camp and the fairy-land standing out for me. The progression is strictly linear and once you're done with a place you can't go back. Visually this is a masterpiece and I feel the art compliments the story wonderfully. The animation is basic. I didn't feel this was a budget issue, but if it was I'm happy it wasn't a priority. It gets the job done and after a few minutes in I wasn't even paying attention to the minimal frames. The voice acting is okay although Geron's was rather flat. Nuri is convincingly naive, playful or sad whenever appropriate. The music is beautiful and sets the tone appropriately. Overall a game that is certainly more than the sum of its parts. I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like point'n'click adventures, play it. More so if you're into fantasy. Just don't expect a lighthearted experience with funny (or wanna-be funny) dialogs and comments.

Best features: Gorgeous artwork + + Soothing lead voice acting Relatively difficult puzzles that are extremely satisfying to solve Great characters A great addition to the classic point and click adventure genre. Simple interface Impactful story Worst features: I could have used a little more world emphasis to make the fantasy elements a little more believable. I guess I'm saying that everything outside the main character's adventure seems JUST a bit shallow. There are some parts in this game where the puzzles can be frustrating and it turns out you had to examine an object for a second time or something simple like that. ALL IN ALL, great game, I look forward to playing the sequel and because of this game I have picked up numerous other titles by Daedalic. I look forward to what I will discover!

I was drawn to this game because I love adventure games and I thought the screenshots looked very beautiful. Now that I finished it I must admit I had quite a bit of fun, but the game isn't without its faults. As said, visually this game is truly stunning; every screen you'll visit in the game is like a beautiful painting full of details. That was one of the main things that made me come back to the game every time, to see what nice locations I would visit next. The sound in the game is also pretty good. I liked the soundtrack in the main menu and the in-game sounds and voice-acting were not the best I've heard, but still pretty good. As for the gameplay, the options are standard in the point-and-click genre. The game lets you pick up things, which you can use on other things or which you can combine to form new objects. What's nice in this game is that you have two magic abilities: one to break and one to repair objects. These extra abilities are a nice addition to help you solve some puzzles. Most puzzles are contained within one or a couple of screens and they are mostly logical. Some are pretty original as well. You can alter the difficulty of the game by using more or less help like showing which items on a screen can be interacted with. The thing I thought could be better is the story. It's full of content, but as said before, a bit cliché at times and although I always wanted to go on, I did not always really care about what happened. That is also due to the fact that I didn't really like the main character and I couldn't really associate with a bit of a negative, moaning guy. It just didn't feel right. The game would have benefited from a better main character in my opinion. I also found the game to be a bit short. I would have given this game three and a half stars, 3 for full prize or 4 on sale, but since that's not possible I give it 4 stars for the stunning piece of art the game is. Overall not bad but not excellent either.

Das Schwarze Auge aka The Dark Eye is a German offshoot of early Dungeons & Dragons. It takes place in a fantastic and fully realized setting called Aventuria. This point and click adventure game can serve as a wonderful introduction, if you're so inclined. It's a tale about a downtrodden peasant lad with a mild telekinesis power whose life changes when he meets a mysterious fairy girl. It has danger and peril, with good attention to the lore both in terms of the world's environments and character backgrounds. All in all, it's not nearly as special as its sequel, Memoria, but it got me down the road to collecting the English language books that were released in recent years. On its own, it's probably a 3/5 adventure game with pretty standard stock character archetypes, but it introduced me to The Dark Eye and the world of Adventuria, so I'll give it a solid 4/5 for the impression it made.