The plot is weak and the ending is disappointing, but it is about the journey.
It is a game for hard core puzzle solvers. The graphics are great and the puzzles are varied and demanding. Might be fun for a group of two or three to work together.
I have done the Myst and Zork series, but this was too demanding to work alone. However there is an excellent detailed walk through by Dick Leeuw and Louis Koot. Using their walk through I enjoyed the scenery and working the puzzles over a three month period.
Quern is a fantastic game (my duration 50+ hrs). Graphic is fantastic. Puzzles are fantastic. All variety and kinds from hard to very hard. They have a very good balance between logic and common sense. Clues are... fantastic. They are of type which seems to be non-existing at first glance, to quite obvious after some reconsideration. Story is convincing and mysterious, revealed slowly, not pushing. This game is thoroughly thought through in every detail. Comparing it to Riven is like comparing two round object on the sky: the Sun and the Moon, Quern being the Sun. Similarities are superficial, In Quern you THINK on solution not SEEK the solution. There is no urge to abandon your life and join the cult in order to complete the game, you can still keep your life and complete Quern. Thee is also some philosophical aspects to the game, so some food for thoughts is present. The ending is fantastic and toward the end there is some sense of humor. Even for the full price the game is fair value as I got an hour of great entertainment for less the half euro-buck. Game is not perfect for five stars but since standard were lowered I followed, hence an extra star. Two extra would be more appropriate considering lowered standards but I couldn't figure out how to increase number of stars above five. Still working on it, same as on negative stars.
Quern - Undying Thoughts is kind of an odd sort of puzzle game. I personally felt that it was a bit difficult and definitely didn't hold your hand with any of the puzzles. I generally prefer simpler puzzle games and eventually went to look at walkthroughs for certain parts because the solution was unclear even after re-reading everything that I had. Perhaps there were things that I had missed reading thereby making it harder. Not my favorite puzzle game.
I'm a veteran of this genre and have played these adventure-puzzle games for most of my gaming career, but this one just doesn't grab me at all and is kind of hard to get into. There's no real carrot-on-a-stick that makes me want to continue moving forward past the initial few puzzles, despite being somewhat engaging in the early-going.
The first couple of puzzles are nicely done and give you something to look forward to, but once you exhaust them it's as if the game just slams on the brakes and hits a brick wall. I spent the better part of 3 hours shuffling bricks around some sort of door-opening contraption (?) to no avail and just gave up.
I wandered about the very little area available looking for clues and find none. I feel like the only way forward is to use a walkthrough or just spend another 3 hours blindly guessing and that's just not good design.
I would recommend this if you're just looking for a time-filler and it's on sale, but if you're looking for an engaging adventure, steer clear of this one.
