Going to completely re-write my review, and bring my score down from an 9/10 to an 8/10

I personally ran into a few glitches (one of which was game stopping) but I won't deduct that from my rating, since most players likely won't experience these problems themselves.

Alright so,



♦ Lovely graphics. The different areas of the game vary quite a lot in terms of detail and visuals and honestly I love how different each (planet?) place is. Also the colours and feel of each place is just 10/10

♦ The story is honestly incredible. Maybe not on par with Cyan's original Myst series, but then again, how many games out there have stories as interesting as Myst's?
Anyway, a lot of the story is learned from picking up notes you find and reading them, and then piecing the plot together yourself. IAs you go throughout the game the story gets more complex and strange, and all of a sudden we're blowing ♥♥♥♥ up

♦ The soundtrack is very nice as well, though it gets really intense at weird times (like louder in certain areas or what not), but overall it fits the game very well

♦ THE PUZZLES. THEY'RE SO GOOD! At least, for the first two areas (I'll talk more about how it starts to falter in the third area in the cons section).
Regardless, the first two areas of the game reminded me about all the reasons why I loved the Myst series in the first place. These are real-world logic based puzzles (nothing too crazy or convoluted, I'm looking at you Secret of Monkey Island).
This game does not hold your hand, it doesn't give you hints, it just brings you to Hunrath and says good luck! Classic Myst, gotta love it.



Slight spoilers so read at your own risk


♦ The Villein system. So I thought the villein system was incredibly cool. I really enjoyed figuring out how it worked, and learning how it being base 4 actually applied to creating numbers. Kinda made me enjoy a little math, and I was excited to use it in the game.
But then, in the end, it was incredibly underutilised.
I know the game doesn't hold your hand, but it also never gave you the chance to test your skills, or actually use the villein system to progress through the game.
Now you could argue that the bridges in Maray were for that purpose, but I've played this game twice and I still have NO ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idea what I'm actually supposed to be inputting on the bridges.
I just push my way through, input the number 1203 (which definitely isn't the right answer) each time, and call it a day.
Not actually sure what they wanted us to do here. Honestly the villein system had a lot of potential but... eh.
Didn't impede the game. Was just disappointing.

♦ Third area. The maze. THE MAZE. I took off a FULL point off for this ♥♥♥♥ show. It's an interesting concept, and if it didn't take so much damn trial and error, loading screens that last for-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-ever, and slow moving elevators... then maybe it could have been fun.
But no.
In an effort to continue my "no guide" streak, I figured the maze out on my own. It took 3+ hours, a bunch of notes, a drawn version of the maze where I cut out the moving pieces (in an effort to figure it out without having to teleport all over the place), and so much damn frustration. Honestly, it almost ruined the game for me. I don't even know if it was worth solving. Sure I felt proud as hell doing it but like... at what cost? Just use a guide and many saves lmao, save yourself the pain. And looking at other people's comments on the maze tells me that many people feel the same way. Honestly awful.

♦ ♥♥♥♥♥♥ save system. Just give us the ability to make multiple saves, don't make us make copies in the "load game" screen. That's just stupid

♦ Also, for those who don't realise you can make multiple saves (like me on my first playthrough) then it's real freaking awful to include a Mofang Sphere that kills you AND RUINS YOUR SAVE DOING IT. WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥. I was lucky I had a second save the second time I played through, so I could reload that. But the one I was originally on is now permanently a black screen with the credits rolling.
Imagine playing on one save, going up to a red sphere you think is cool, and then ruining your game. ??????????????????????


♦ My first playthrough, I got all the way to the Gauntlet puzzle, put the game down for about a week, and then came back to find my save erased. Nice.

♦ Now, I did actually get one (1) chance to show off my skills and knowledge with the villein system once I reached the pods. I input the number needed, realised I wanted to backtrack and put a different number in (for an achievement), and so I loaded a save from a few minutes prior.
This led to the screen of the villein freezing with the number 217 (which is literally not used in this game) and me freaking out thinking my game had broke, once again.
Turns out it was just showing that as the input (217), but it wasn't actually there, and I just had to go ahead in put in the numbers I needed over top the number that was stuck there.

I had to learn this from an obscure as hell video (65 views) on youtube, and I have seen a few other discussion posts from as early as 2016. Disappointing that this game has been out for a few years and this problem hasn't been patched yet.



Anyway, ignoring the stress the bugs/glitches caused me, and not counting the maze, the game would be a solid 9/10 in my book. I really really do enjoy playing it.

But ♥♥♥♥ the maze. 8/10

[b] Going to completely re-write my review, and bring my score down from an 9/10 to an 8/10 [/b] I personally ran into a few glitches (one of which was game stopping) but I won't deduct that from my rating, since most players likely won't experience these problems themselves. Alright so, [h1] Pros [/h1] ♦ Lovely graphics. The different areas of the game vary quite a lot in terms of detail and visuals and honestly I love how different each (planet?) place is. Also the colours and feel of each place is just 10/10 ♦ The story is honestly incredible. Maybe not on par with Cyan's original Myst series, but then again, how many games out there have stories as interesting as Myst's? Anyway, a lot of the story is learned from picking up notes you find and reading them, and then piecing the plot together yourself. IAs you go throughout the game the story gets more complex and strange, and all of a sudden we're [spoiler] blowing shit up [/spoiler] ♦ The soundtrack is very nice as well, though it gets really intense at weird times (like louder in certain areas or what not), but overall it fits the game very well ♦ THE PUZZLES. THEY'RE SO GOOD! At least, for the first two areas (I'll talk more about how it starts to falter in the third area in the cons section). Regardless, the first two areas of the game reminded me about all the reasons why I loved the Myst series in the first place. These are real-world logic based puzzles (nothing too crazy or convoluted, I'm looking at you Secret of Monkey Island). This game does not hold your hand, it doesn't give you hints, it just brings you to Hunrath and says good luck! Classic Myst, gotta love it. [h1] Cons [/h1] [b] Slight spoilers so read at your own risk [/b] ♦ The Villein system. So I thought the villein system was incredibly cool. I really enjoyed figuring out how it worked, and learning how it being base 4 actually applied to creating numbers. Kinda made me enjoy a little math, and I was excited to use it in the game. But then, in the end, it was incredibly underutilised. I know the game doesn't hold your hand, but it also never gave you the chance to test your skills, or actually use the villein system to progress through the game. Now you could argue that the bridges in Maray were for that purpose, but I've played this game twice and I still have NO fucking idea what I'm actually supposed to be inputting on the bridges. I just push my way through, input the number [spoiler] 1203 (which definitely isn't the right answer) [/spoiler] each time, and call it a day. Not actually sure what they wanted us to do here. Honestly the villein system had a lot of potential but... eh. Didn't impede the game. Was just disappointing. ♦ Third area. The maze. [b]THE MAZE[/b]. I took off a FULL point off for this shit show. It's an interesting concept, and if it didn't take so much damn trial and error, loading screens that last for-fucking-ever, and slow moving elevators... then maybe it could have been fun. But no. In an effort to continue my "no guide" streak, I figured the maze out on my own. It took 3+ hours, a bunch of notes, a drawn version of the maze where I cut out the moving pieces (in an effort to figure it out without having to teleport all over the place), and so much damn frustration. Honestly, it almost ruined the game for me. I don't even know if it was worth solving. Sure I felt proud as hell doing it but like... at what cost? Just use a guide and many saves lmao, save yourself the pain. And looking at other people's comments on the maze tells me that many people feel the same way. Honestly awful. ♦ Shitty save system. Just give us the ability to make multiple saves, don't make us make copies in the "load game" screen. That's just stupid ♦ Also, for those who don't realise you can make multiple saves (like me on my first playthrough) then it's real freaking awful to include a Mofang Sphere that kills you AND RUINS YOUR SAVE DOING IT. WHAT THE FUCK. I was lucky I had a second save the second time I played through, so I could reload that. But the one I was originally on is now permanently a black screen with the credits rolling. Imagine playing on one save, going up to a red sphere you think is cool, and then ruining your game. ?????????????????????? [h1] Glitches [/h1] ♦ My first playthrough, I got all the way to the Gauntlet puzzle, put the game down for about a week, and then came back to find my save erased. Nice. ♦ Now, I did actually get one (1) chance to show off my skills and knowledge with the villein system once I reached the pods. I input the number needed, realised I wanted to backtrack and put a different number in (for an achievement), and so I loaded a save from a few minutes prior. This led to the screen of the villein freezing with the number 217 (which is literally not used in this game) and me freaking out thinking my game had broke, once again. Turns out it was just showing that as the input (217), but it wasn't actually there, and I just had to go ahead in put in the numbers I needed over top the number that was stuck there. I had to learn this from an obscure as hell video (65 views) on youtube, and I have seen a few other discussion posts from as early as 2016. Disappointing that this game has been out for a few years and this problem hasn't been patched yet. Anyway, ignoring the stress the bugs/glitches caused me, and not counting the maze, the game would be a solid 9/10 in my book. I really really do enjoy playing it. But fuck the maze. 8/10