Quern wears its Myst inspiration on its sleeves pretty heavily. On it's own, that's not a bad thing, but it's hard not to hold it side-by-side and see the flaws laid bare. There is a definite abandoned-village vibe, but the art direction is a little gray and mundane so there's no sense of wonder. There are many unique puzzle mechanics that require you to work out the properties of the objects you interact with, but without the grounding of a character story to motivate you, it feels more like checking off a to-do list than following a story. There's no grander thing that's happening to take this whole experience to the next level. But worst of all, there's nothing new that this game brings to the genre. An homage does best when it supercedes the reference by being more modern and bringing a fresh take, but this game retreads old habits in a bit of a lackluster way. I'm convinced that if this creator learned from this lesson and created something new from their own ideas, they have the capabilities to make something great, but unfortunately it appears this was their last attempt.