I never thought I'd get the same feelings I had playing MYST and the rest of the MYST series. That feeling of being lost, 'stuck'...what game makes you feel 'stuck' and 'lost' anymore. Well, this game managed to do it! Simply put, if you love MYST, you will love this game and I'd jump right in and not read more. What makes these kinds of games special to me? Well thought out puzzles, riddles, etc. There is nothing more fun than being lost in a world and having no idea what to do. This kind of gaming experience simply does not exist in other genres and few game makers know how to do these kinds of games just right. It's not just merely a walking simulator. A lot of 'puzzle' games in the 2010s era have incredibly simple puzzles and you're just walking through the story. Not here. It's an escape from your own world into a breath-taking fantasy. I can play a game like this for hours and just be engrossed in it, left to roam the landscape in search of solving whatever puzzle I am stuck on. The puzzles are completely fair and well-made. I play a lot of puzzle games and want something challenging. It is clear immerse thought, testing, and design went into everything you need to do in the game. But I will note, I determine fair in the sense that if you make logical decisions and use good problem solving skills, you should be able to solve the puzzle. There is hint support in-game but I did not use any hints from anywhere. I'd really caution you to avoid hints; it ruins games like this too easily. Ask friends for small nudges after you've been stuck for days. I think most people could handle this game though. If you're the kind of person who opens hint books 5 minutes into a game, you probably won't enjoy this; you likely didn't enjoy MYST either. Overall I am beyond impressed with what they made here and I am glad I had the opportunity to play it finally! Games are simply just not made like this often and I would recommend picking this up!
So I play a lot of roguelikes. I really want to like this game, unfortunately after so many years of development, the game has a massive amount of issues that make it near the bottom of my list of roguelikes. Major game flaws that the developers have chosen to ignore or not address: Game will frequently cause ASCII to appear on top of your tiles. You may need to delete your dll files and reacquire to fix. The game is supposed to have mouse support. Unfortunately clicking often causes you to run completely around the map when you wanted to take 1 step. You cannot attack in place. Too often you may walk into a group of enemies and be surrounded. The lettering of items (the key you'd press to interact with an item) changes as you interact with the menu. This is very poor for roguelikes as you generally play with keyboard and it's very important that spell you want to cast or thing you pickup is on a consistent letter. Quests are not straightforward. You will screw up every quest and not understand how religion or what you're supposed to do at that statue without a guide. Terrible things happen to you if you interact the wrong way with something. It is not fun to try things because the punishment is basically death. The real kicker is when you'd like to learn something in the game. It's never straightforward. Example: Chaos Knights enter a shop, shopkeeper greets you with normal text, you go to buy something. He says you must pay for it, you try to pay but it won't let you. Nothing in the game tells you that Chaos Knights can't use shops while chaotic because NPC text isn't altered. Even better. Autopickup, a UI feature that should be game-agnostic--can just automatically kill you as it does not care when it triggers. It will tick someone off and you'll get 1-shot. I really want to like this game but it's been 10+ years and the development of this game and what I see on the forums is just completely backward. Every game I play of this is frustration.
I really like the idea of difficult and figure out what to do games. First off--this game is not a roguelike. It is essentially an interactive fiction title with a much more 'fixed' set of events and story. If you enjoy "Uncharted Waters: New Horizons" but want a more structured game--this might be the kind of game for you. I have numerous complaints. I saw a friend play this game and was curious how I'd enjoy it and figured I'd actually like it a lot. My suggestions/issues have some mini-spoilers below. This isn't a don't buy the game--just be aware what you're getting into. I dealt with it and had fun. Not all players would put up with this level of problems. For a better experience, do this: Have someone explain or learn how the games' 'flags' work. Mod the time for 'SAY' to occur. Problems/Issues: The UI/UX makes it very difficult to understand how your actions / what you've done changes what actions and how you can do things at a port. It is extremely important to note this plays like an interactive fiction title--READ everything you're told as once the message is gone; it's gone for good. Information about critical game elements may never be shown. It is very difficult, even when the objective is clear, to figure out what to do next until you're many hours of familiarity into the game/looked up how stuff works. You reach a point where it's a severe penalty to die if you didn't understand how it works. This is one of my biggest gripes for games like this. Any puzzle/interactive fiction game that punishes you for exploring when it's a key game element--that's a very serious issue. There are numerous unfixed bugs and the game's progression and pace is unexcusably slow. I knew how a mechanic worked--it bugged and my captain was very much screwed. It's very much a shame this game has so many unfixed bugs and unfinished content. They could have spent a very tiny amount of time fixing it, but they focused on a new game instead.
Do you like Myst? Do you enjoy needing to apply abstract and Z->A logic in solving puzzles? Are you the kind of person that plays puzzle and adventure point/click titles for those AH HA! moments--the thing puzzle solvers live for. Well this game is your huckleberry. Are you the kind of person that is typically disappointed in puzzle games because 'that puzzle that could have been amazing, was a total letdown and the game just literally solved it for you, etc. etc.' If you allow this game to satisfy your inner puzzler/inner Indian Jones, I'm sure it won't disappoint! 1st: If you have not played the first game, you should play the first game before this. It is known as La Mulana on stores and known in circles as "La Mulana Remake". 2nd: This game will challenge a puzzle solver. You will be tempted to cheat--seriously don't. It ruins your experience and ultimately means you repeatedly make the same problem solving errors. As a puzzle solver there's one thing I look for in reviews and when I ask friends that played a game--is the game fair? Everything in this game is absolutely fair, but be warned you may feel that thing you never feel in games...feeling stuck...feeling lost. It's not a feeling many gamers are comfortable with and it's truly something special when a game can touch you in that way. It's Myst-like in that regard, as well as the puzzles being amazingly well done. SPOILERS AHEAD (minor gameplay details and as a riddler I wouldn't read this--just some general comparisons but it may alter how you think and play. If you've read this review and think, "Game sounds great, worth a shot..stop reading!" Compared to LM1: Design of puzzles is even better, more variety. As compared to LM1, the way riddles are written up and presented there isn't a lot to argue that there is only one 'correct' answer to a puzzle. Some complained of translation issues in LM1 (I never ran into the issue myself), I did not feel that in a raw playthrough of 2.
