I finally beat this game after multiple years of starting and then not coming back to it. I think before, I would typically get stuck at an area, give up pretty quickly, and then look online for a hint. That style of play was super unmotivating because the biggest draw of this game is its sense of discovery.
Coming back to the game again, I was familiar with some of the mechanics, but I had forgot a lot, so I started writing down the rules in a notebook. I think having a physical notebook where I could write down everything I found was a gamechanger for how I approached this game. It made me super curious to figure out all of the rules and see how they would work together. Especially in the town section and the ending it was super helpful to draw up what I had seen and sketch out potential solutions. If you're looking into playing this game, I really recommend doing the same or maybe even taking screenshots so you can mark up the puzzles.
While the base puzzles were really well put together and challenging, I really loved discovering how to use the obelisk. I don't want to spoil things for anyone, but figuring out what they did completely changed the way I was interacting with the world around me. It really made me appreciate the layout of the map.
Probably one of my only complaints about this game is its sound design. The game uses a kind of directional sound, where if your facing an object that's making noise you'll hear it, but as you look away it will fade. It's a cool idea, but I think it would've worked better with some kind of proximity feature, where you hear it if your close to an object, not if you're looking at it. I get that the sound was probably implemented due to some of the auditory puzzles, but as someone who was constantly looking around at everything, it was pretty annoying to hear like motor noises and water streams fading in and out all the time when I was right next to them.
Overall though this is a great game. I clocked in at about 20 hours to finish, but it's a lot faster on replays once you know what's going on. It's definitely not a game that everyone will enjoy, but for people who like puzzle games, this one is top notch. It's got a great atmosphere and a really nice challenge to it. I'll probably be replaying soon to try and solve all of the obelisks.
Coming back to the game again, I was familiar with some of the mechanics, but I had forgot a lot, so I started writing down the rules in a notebook. I think having a physical notebook where I could write down everything I found was a gamechanger for how I approached this game. It made me super curious to figure out all of the rules and see how they would work together. Especially in the town section and the ending it was super helpful to draw up what I had seen and sketch out potential solutions. If you're looking into playing this game, I really recommend doing the same or maybe even taking screenshots so you can mark up the puzzles.
While the base puzzles were really well put together and challenging, I really loved discovering how to use the obelisk. I don't want to spoil things for anyone, but figuring out what they did completely changed the way I was interacting with the world around me. It really made me appreciate the layout of the map.
Probably one of my only complaints about this game is its sound design. The game uses a kind of directional sound, where if your facing an object that's making noise you'll hear it, but as you look away it will fade. It's a cool idea, but I think it would've worked better with some kind of proximity feature, where you hear it if your close to an object, not if you're looking at it. I get that the sound was probably implemented due to some of the auditory puzzles, but as someone who was constantly looking around at everything, it was pretty annoying to hear like motor noises and water streams fading in and out all the time when I was right next to them.
Overall though this is a great game. I clocked in at about 20 hours to finish, but it's a lot faster on replays once you know what's going on. It's definitely not a game that everyone will enjoy, but for people who like puzzle games, this one is top notch. It's got a great atmosphere and a really nice challenge to it. I'll probably be replaying soon to try and solve all of the obelisks.