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.
