The game feels like an extended set of lost tales from Brothers Grimm, but rather than looking back from a contemporary viewpoint with academic classifications, the game creates a palpable sensation of actually living in the midst of a dour and disturbing world.
The atmosphere is so dark and evocative; you really get to know the inhabitants of this small village. You like them and you hope for them. Even when someone dies who you barely knew, it still feels like a loss in how the death reverberates around the village. You even hear that the person who is lodging you had a big loss in their life too. It is sad to hear and colours your interaction with them. The atmosphere of loss is both central and a constant peripheral figure in the experience. The village itself feels surrounded on all sides by apprehension and darkness. Akin to medieval fairy tales, which liked to paint the outside world "beyond the village" with foreboding dread, Alundra succeeds to double down on this ambience. That the area is beset by some sort of demonic figure further underlines this sense of a lost fable.
Any joy that you do find, like a tavern, a gilded falcon or some children playing, is beautifully juxtaposed against all of this dark atmosphere. Like any good fairy tale, it signifies and works to remind us of the joys and perils of our life.
On a ludic footing, the game is even stronger. Each of the game's puzzle dungeons are unendingly clever, meticulously designed and palpably rewarding. The rush of figuring out a tough one (of which there are many) never gets old. You can almost sense the clever mind of the designer wryly setting the traps and switches in place. Pleased. And not in a immersion breaking sense, more so in a warming and philosophical sense. That the designer of a certain puzzle, may actually be dead (circa 2023), and yet the ghost of their design lives on in eternity. In Alundric form.
Indeed, playing a game from 1997 (and no doubt worked upon years prior) came with its own unique wistful emotions. In such a young industry, the notion of developer death has rarely been explored by others or myself before. In another 25 years, we can almost be certain that most if not all developers of Alundra may be dead. It is shocking and bleak to think about. And yet the game persists. Its puzzles always ready and in place for the next Releaser. Alundra is a game which can make you think about this. Not only for its theming of villager death that persists all around you, but because many of its puzzles feel so personal. They all feel created by a happy human who had an "aha" moment. And when that "aha" moment dawns within you, it is like a torch has been passed and set within you, as you grasp the exact same thing the puzzle designer did. A flicker to the past...
For this, Alundra is not only a great action, adventure game, it is a great adventure through the past. Of someone's meticulously placed traps, their wry switches and cheeky timings. Of their hints, their ingenuity, their clever use of assets and their fairhanded safety nets.
Akin to any medieval folk tale which works to give us a glimmer into the past, no matter how bleak or dark; Alundra achieves this and becomes gaming's ultimate, playable folk tale.
The atmosphere is so dark and evocative; you really get to know the inhabitants of this small village. You like them and you hope for them. Even when someone dies who you barely knew, it still feels like a loss in how the death reverberates around the village. You even hear that the person who is lodging you had a big loss in their life too. It is sad to hear and colours your interaction with them. The atmosphere of loss is both central and a constant peripheral figure in the experience. The village itself feels surrounded on all sides by apprehension and darkness. Akin to medieval fairy tales, which liked to paint the outside world "beyond the village" with foreboding dread, Alundra succeeds to double down on this ambience. That the area is beset by some sort of demonic figure further underlines this sense of a lost fable.
Any joy that you do find, like a tavern, a gilded falcon or some children playing, is beautifully juxtaposed against all of this dark atmosphere. Like any good fairy tale, it signifies and works to remind us of the joys and perils of our life.
On a ludic footing, the game is even stronger. Each of the game's puzzle dungeons are unendingly clever, meticulously designed and palpably rewarding. The rush of figuring out a tough one (of which there are many) never gets old. You can almost sense the clever mind of the designer wryly setting the traps and switches in place. Pleased. And not in a immersion breaking sense, more so in a warming and philosophical sense. That the designer of a certain puzzle, may actually be dead (circa 2023), and yet the ghost of their design lives on in eternity. In Alundric form.
Indeed, playing a game from 1997 (and no doubt worked upon years prior) came with its own unique wistful emotions. In such a young industry, the notion of developer death has rarely been explored by others or myself before. In another 25 years, we can almost be certain that most if not all developers of Alundra may be dead. It is shocking and bleak to think about. And yet the game persists. Its puzzles always ready and in place for the next Releaser. Alundra is a game which can make you think about this. Not only for its theming of villager death that persists all around you, but because many of its puzzles feel so personal. They all feel created by a happy human who had an "aha" moment. And when that "aha" moment dawns within you, it is like a torch has been passed and set within you, as you grasp the exact same thing the puzzle designer did. A flicker to the past...
For this, Alundra is not only a great action, adventure game, it is a great adventure through the past. Of someone's meticulously placed traps, their wry switches and cheeky timings. Of their hints, their ingenuity, their clever use of assets and their fairhanded safety nets.
Akin to any medieval folk tale which works to give us a glimmer into the past, no matter how bleak or dark; Alundra achieves this and becomes gaming's ultimate, playable folk tale.