Relicta is a linear, first-person puzzle game similar to Portal and The Turing Test. Both its puzzles and its story are decent, though there is a sense of disconnect between the two. The puzzles are numerous and grow to be quite difficult, which dramatically slows the feeling of progression, and the existence of the puzzles themselves holds a somewhat flimsy connection to the story, making the gameplay feel disconnected from the narrative.

Taking AFK time out of the equation, completion took me 15-16 hours — 6-8 hours longer than I would expect from this type of game.

🎮Relicta can be played with both keyboard/mouse and controller. Both can be re-bound.🎮

Relicta's gameplay will likely feel familiar to those who have played the aforementioned similar titles; it features a first-person perspective, device for manipulating the environment and objects, and an ever-present A.I. to talk to between puzzles. Players cannot die or suffer ill effects.

Aiming and moving feel smooth and precise, if a little restricted. On occasion, a puzzle segment could be solved or bypassed if the player character were able to simply crouch or climb, which is potentially a bit immersion-breaking.

The core mechanics are the ability to change the polarity of certain objects to repel or attract each other, and to remove the affect of gravity on cubes, allowing them to fly through the air — sometimes with you riding them. It's a system that often requires players to think several steps in advance, in order to get the cubes and themselves past the myriad of obstacles present. Various new environmental mechanics such as barriers and mobile platforms continue to be introduced right up to the end of the game.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2239193239
In the latter half of the game, puzzles quickly grow more complex, to the point of being a convoluted mess at first glance. On occasion I found it easiest to find the end goal and work backwards to discover just where I was supposed to start. These puzzles take some time to complete, and often the reward for doing so is a three second walk to another, equally complex cluster of cables, buttons and barriers. This is where my biggest issue with the game begins.

Though I don't mind a challenging puzzle, doing several complex yet very similar ones in a row with little in between begins to feel repetitive and tiring, and made me want to play the game in short burts. Now, that's fine when the game is just a casual puzzle game, but Relicta is a linear story game, and I feel the density of gameplay content halts story progression significantly, as the puzzles contain little relevance to the narrative. For this reason, as well as the complexity of many of the later puzzles, I think the game's pacing and accessibility would be improved greatly by relegating many of the levels (harder ones, especially) to optional content, making the story experience smoother and less repetitive.

Set in a near-future sci-fi moon base featuring several distinct biomes, Relicta offers great visual variety. Working in various craters near the base, scientists have created small natural biomes on the moon, including lush jungle, tropical beach, arid desert and more. Though these areas are beautiful and distinct, their differences don't really translate to gameplay. The base itself, which players travel though between puzzle sections, is a great piece of design, with extensive decorative objects and equipment, beautiful natural features blended with the architecture, and a very high level of detail overall. I wish I'd got to spend more time there, interacting with the environment.

Relicta's story is told through the eyes of Doctor Angelica Patel, one of a small team of scientists occupying a base on Earth's moon. The base was established by a previous group, and contains a strange alien artefact known as the Relicta. Using scientific knowledge gleaned from this artefact, the past and present scientists have created technology far beyond humanity's current level. An example of this is the gloves that allow Patel to manipulate her environment in the ways described above.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2239203086
The existence of the gloves and puzzle tracks designed to test them is briefly explained, but has rather an odd fit with the rest of the story. Every one of the biomes connected to the base features a puzzle track, which is apparently the only way to navigate them, even when there's a vital piece of base infrastructure — such as a generator — at the other end. Invisible barriers also prevent any deviation from the path. Things go very wrong for the protagonist throughout the story, and she constantly needs to be at the other end of a puzzle track. Conveniently, the tracks are all unable to be switched off for some reason or other, forcing her to complete every one in its entirety.

Besides Doctor Patel, Relicta features a few other voiced characters, and I found the voice acting, story telling and characters to be of pretty high quality, barring the protagonist having some dumb moments occasionally. The humour is good, and I enjoyed many of the exchanges later in the game. Relicta manages its time well by focusing its efforts on a small number of characters and relationships. Unfortunately, dialogue would sometimes be cut off by moving into the next area too soon, causing me to stand still and wait to make sure I heard everything, rather than getting started on the next puzzle.

Some of the biomes feature decorative structures or features that cannot be reached due to the invisible walls, but would be ideal places to find collectables. This would also offer a short break and some variety between large puzzles. A missed opportunity, I feel.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz
16GB DDR3 RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
HDD
Windows 10

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2239178011
As pretty as the natural environments are, it's the interior of the base I loved the most. The combination of clean, neutral surfaces, vibrant lighting and themed displays such as planters and animated equipment sets a great scene. The game's loading screens feature nice art, too.

Using the specs listed above, the game ran at a steady 60fps on max settings. It would occasionally hang for a brief moment, but this was rare enough that it didn't bother me.

Relicta features a nice, high quality soundtrack, with quite peaceful, if slightly sombre music. Sound effects are crisp and of high quality, though the lack of footsteps is a little odd. My only real complaint is that the intro movies when starting the game are not affected by the volume sliders, and cannot be skipped to avoid the problem.

I did not encounter any issues worth mentioning; the game is well polished.

Relicta is a game with a good story and challenging puzzles, but the two don't interact very well, and it can get quite repetitive. Those who typically have trouble with puzzle games will want to think carefully about this one, or use a guide.

I recommend this game to those who like challenging puzzle gameplay, but warn of its issues and difficulty.

If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, Devils in the Detail.

[h1][i]Challenging puzzles and a cool story, but disconnected.[/i][/h1] [h2][i]-[u]Overview[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]Relicta[/i] is a linear, first-person puzzle game similar to [i]Portal[/i] and [i]The Turing Test[/i]. Both its puzzles and its story are decent, though there is a sense of disconnect between the two. The puzzles are numerous and grow to be quite difficult, which dramatically slows the feeling of progression, and the existence of the puzzles themselves holds a somewhat flimsy connection to the story, making the gameplay feel disconnected from the narrative. Taking AFK time out of the equation, completion took me 15-16 hours — 6-8 hours longer than I would expect from this type of game. [quote]🎮[i]Relicta can be played with both keyboard/mouse and controller. Both can be re-bound.[/i]🎮[/quote] [h2][i]-[u]Gameplay[/u]-[/i][/h2] [h3]Basics:[/h3] Relicta's gameplay will likely feel familiar to those who have played the aforementioned similar titles; it features a first-person perspective, device for manipulating the environment and objects, and an ever-present A.I. to talk to between puzzles. Players cannot die or suffer ill effects. Aiming and moving feel smooth and precise, if a little restricted. On occasion, a puzzle segment could be solved or bypassed if the player character were able to simply crouch or climb, which is potentially a bit immersion-breaking. [h3]Puzzles:[/h3] The core mechanics are the ability to change the polarity of certain objects to repel or attract each other, and to remove the affect of gravity on cubes, allowing them to fly through the air — sometimes with you riding them. It's a system that often requires players to think several steps in advance, in order to get the cubes and themselves past the myriad of obstacles present. Various new environmental mechanics such as barriers and mobile platforms continue to be introduced right up to the end of the game. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2239193239 In the latter half of the game, puzzles quickly grow more complex, to the point of being a convoluted mess at first glance. On occasion I found it easiest to find the end goal and work backwards to discover just where I was supposed to start. These puzzles take some time to complete, and often the reward for doing so is a three second walk to another, equally complex cluster of cables, buttons and barriers. This is where my biggest issue with the game begins. Though I don't mind a challenging puzzle, doing several complex yet very similar ones in a row with little in between begins to feel repetitive and tiring, and made me want to play the game in short burts. Now, that's fine when the game is just a casual puzzle game, but [i]Relicta[/i] is a linear story game, and I feel the density of gameplay content halts story progression significantly, as the puzzles contain little relevance to the narrative. For this reason, as well as the complexity of many of the later puzzles, I think the game's pacing and accessibility would be improved greatly by relegating many of the levels (harder ones, especially) to optional content, making the story experience smoother and less repetitive. [h3]World Design:[/h3] Set in a near-future sci-fi moon base featuring several distinct biomes, [i]Relicta[/i] offers great visual variety. Working in various craters near the base, scientists have created small natural biomes on the moon, including lush jungle, tropical beach, arid desert and more. Though these areas are beautiful and distinct, their differences don't really translate to gameplay. The base itself, which players travel though between puzzle sections, is a great piece of design, with extensive decorative objects and equipment, beautiful natural features blended with the architecture, and a very high level of detail overall. I wish I'd got to spend more time there, interacting with the environment. [h2][i]-[u]Story[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]Relicta's[/i] story is told through the eyes of Doctor Angelica Patel, one of a small team of scientists occupying a base on Earth's moon. The base was established by a previous group, and contains a strange alien artefact known as the [i]Relicta[/i]. Using scientific knowledge gleaned from this artefact, the past and present scientists have created technology far beyond humanity's current level. An example of this is the gloves that allow Patel to manipulate her environment in the ways described above. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2239203086 The existence of the gloves and puzzle tracks designed to test them is briefly explained, but has rather an odd fit with the rest of the story. Every one of the biomes connected to the base features a puzzle track, which is apparently the only way to navigate them, even when there's a vital piece of base infrastructure — such as a generator — at the other end. Invisible barriers also prevent any deviation from the path. Things go very wrong for the protagonist throughout the story, and she constantly needs to be at the other end of a puzzle track. Conveniently, the tracks are all unable to be switched off for some reason or other, forcing her to complete every one in its entirety. Besides Doctor Patel, [i]Relicta[/i] features a few other voiced characters, and I found the voice acting, story telling and characters to be of pretty high quality, barring the protagonist having some dumb moments occasionally. The humour is good, and I enjoyed many of the exchanges later in the game. [i]Relicta[/i] manages its time well by focusing its efforts on a small number of characters and relationships. Unfortunately, dialogue would sometimes be cut off by moving into the next area too soon, causing me to stand still and wait to make sure I heard everything, rather than getting started on the next puzzle. Some of the biomes feature decorative structures or features that cannot be reached due to the invisible walls, but would be ideal places to find collectables. This would also offer a short break and some variety between large puzzles. A missed opportunity, I feel. [h2][i]-[u]Technical[/u]-[/i][/h2] [quote][b]This game was played with the following PC specs:[/b] Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz 16GB DDR3 RAM GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB 1680x1050 resolution HDD Windows 10[/quote] [h3]Visuals:[/h3] https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2239178011 As pretty as the natural environments are, it's the interior of the base I loved the most. The combination of clean, neutral surfaces, vibrant lighting and themed displays such as planters and animated equipment sets a great scene. The game's loading screens feature nice art, too. [h3]Performance:[/h3] Using the specs listed above, the game ran at a steady 60fps on max settings. It would occasionally hang for a brief moment, but this was rare enough that it didn't bother me. [h3]Audio:[/h3] [i]Relicta[/i] features a nice, high quality soundtrack, with quite peaceful, if slightly sombre music. Sound effects are crisp and of high quality, though the lack of footsteps is a little odd. My only real complaint is that the intro movies when starting the game are not affected by the volume sliders, and cannot be skipped to avoid the problem. [h3]Issues:[/h3] I did not encounter any issues worth mentioning; the game is well polished. [h2][i]-[u]Summary[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]Relicta[/i] is a game with a good story and challenging puzzles, but the two don't interact very well, and it can get quite repetitive. Those who typically have trouble with puzzle games will want to think carefully about this one, or use a guide. [b]I recommend this game to those who like challenging puzzle gameplay, but warn of its issues and difficulty.[/b] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37072886][quote]If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, [b]Devils in the Detail[/b].