Cyan set out to tell a story using very little dialogue and a lot of stunning visuals. This game is full of thematic imagery and some very nice atmosphere. It’s a point and click adventure game with tons of very head scratching puzzles and a lot of attention that you need to pay to pretty much everything that you do throughout it. The settings that you go through have a realistic tone to them, while also existing clearly in the 32-bit dimension.
The down-side? Pretty much everything else. This game is sloggier than a slug looking for the slowest shell to slither through the molasses river. It is so god awfully boring and so hard to get through, especially in the first run through. At first, it’s nice to view the scenery and take in the atmosphere. Then you start to hate the scenery and the atmosphere becomes blotchy because there is very little music at all throughout the game. You spend so long in these places trying to find the puzzle combinations and all of the switches that you need to flip along with figuring out everything you need to do to advance to the next stage. Visually, the game delivers, but that does not mean I want to stand around and stare at everything for that long.
There is a story attached to this game as well. It is somewhat of an interesting one, but only when you actually start to put the puzzle pieces together and that takes a while. The plot isn’t exactly the deepest, though, in fact it’s rather simple in a lot of ways. None of that is really the problem, though. The problem is the acting is atrocious. FMV games have been known to be absolutely terrible in the ways of performances from its characters. This stims from the fact that real actors cost money and it’s a lot cheaper just to put the game devs into silly costumes and let them ham it up in front of the camera. So, the more footage you get from the storyline, the more you get to see just how badly their playwriting sucks.
So, you’re traveling through the worlds using a book in order to gather pages for incomplete books. There are some guys trapped in these books. They are more or less the epitome of cringy performances. The more pages you put in the books, the more you get of their messages and the more they can tell you “PLEASE! Bring me more pages!”
I won’t bore you with all of the details, but it’s interesting enough to keep you invested. It is especially good if this is really your thing. It is very good for its time and quite advanced when it comes to the point and click adventure games. When you hear about this genre, Myst is sure to come up. However, it is an acquired taste for a select demographic. Anyone else will more than likely be bored out of their skull and not even make it out of the first level.
The story and gameplay are quite shallow--so shallow, in fact, that you can actually beat the game in just a few minutes if you know where to go. I won’t spoil anything for you, but the ending is really terrible. All of the endings, that is. You’ll either get some dismal epilogues or you’ll get one “good ending” that is more or less just a clumsy precursor to the sequel game, Riven.
Do not let anyone tell you that this game is awesome and a classic that everyone should play. It is very subjective as to whether or not you’ll enjoy this. Before diving in, be sure to keep an open mind and always remember to drink water.
