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.

This game has everything I want from a puzzle game experience. Nothing is more frustrating than the game (even accidentally) spoiling a solution, but this is a perfect example of complete trust in the player. It scratches the deduction part of my brain that's enjoyable in a mystery game, there's a mystical exploration component as you can just see further areas before clearing the puzzles to reach them, and there are endless optional challenges without very much requirement at all. I will say the "story" elements with navel-gazing speeches added nothing for me. I would almost prefer them to be removed from the game entirely, but they are optional, so I can simply play that way.

As I get older and finish more games from my backlog, more and more I appreciate a tidy handful of hours telling a streamlined story. It feels great to feasibly finish a game in one sitting and have a whole experience, and Firewatch provides exactly that. While you do have player choice that ultimately doesn't change the story, I like how the choices color your emotional experience with the main character without interfering with the A-plot. Having all of the interactivity of the game be completely diegetic was a fantastic design choice that helps you feel immersed in the world at all times. Pulling a map out in front of you and unfolding it while listening to the conversation on your walkie feels like you're really out there.

It's very rare to find a stealth game that allows you to not be stealthy without the feeling that you've somehow broken the experience. As a fairly impatient gamer, I find it immensely satisfying how you can go full-chaos through a level to learn the layout and then calculate your way through for the perfect stealth run. It's so easy to get every possible experience, not that that would prevent me from playing through the game again. My biggest critique is the color palate is already so drab, but you will spend almost all of your time using the Batman-vision filter which only makes the world even more brown and yellow. Not the most flattering visuals, and later entries don't to a lot to make this problem better.