One of the hardest adventure games ever...
So lets get this out of the way: This game is hard. No, hard is an understatement, it's downright sadistic. If you have played Myst, you know what these games are about. Walk around in a somewhat open world, and solve puzzles. This game feels like Myst, it plays like Myst… I'm quite sure that it at times believes that it is Myst. But, while Myst could be breezed trough, by a good puzzle solver, this game might take even the best some time. To quite another review that I read some time ago "this is a game for future mensa members".
So, what makes this game so hard? Well, the puzzles of course. There are clues on how to solve the puzzles scatter trough the world, and if you are observant enough, you should have the information needed to solve a puzzle, when you find it. The problem is that figuring out what a clue looks like isn't that easy.
But enough talk about how hard the game is. What kind of puzzles are there? Much like a well written IQ test, this game has several kinds of puzzles, be it spatial, perception, math or linguistic based. It has a good mix of them. If one of them is your "weak side", expect to suffer thought.
The graphics in this game looks nice, for it's time. It's not the best looking game ever, but it's above average. The same can be said about the sound, it's better than average, but it wont win any awards.
The story feels like an excuse to put you on a strange planet, with a lot of fiendish puzzles. It wont win any awards, but it does a good enough job. It's also backed up by some ok acting.
So, what about flaws (with the exception of the above mentioned fiendish difficulty)? Well, the controls can be a bit awkward from time to time, and you will find yourself walking past the door that you want to walk into at some points. But it's nothing horrible. Also, you NEED a pen and a piece of paper when you play this game. An in game camera would have been nice.
So, is the game any good? Would I recommend it? Yes, and no. It's simply too hard for most people, so unless you found Riven to be a bit on the easy side, this game might simply be frustrating for you. Even if you thought that Riven was easy, this game will give you a run for your money. I can only recommend this game to die hard fans of Myst-like games. But believe me; those people will love this game. The final score (8) reflects how much I enjoy the game, and nothing else.