Prepare to unravel the mysteries that lie waiting for you in The Eyes of Ara out now on the Nintendo Switch from 100 Stones Interactive.
The Eyes of Ara is an adventure puzzle game that has players investigating a mysterious signal that is coming from an old weathered castle sitting atop an isolated island. Up until recently the castle has laid dormant with only folk tales remaining of its origins and ghost stories surrounding its former occupants. Arriving by boat, players start to explore the castle room by room in an attempt to uncover the secrets of this mysterious location. Apart from the amazingly intricate main story puzzles there are countless other minor puzzles, hidden passages and collectables for those with a keen eye to uncover.
The Eyes of Ara takes us back to the classics such as Myst and Riven, giving players a real sense of wonder and discovery. Just like those classics, there is an oppressive sense of isolation and confinement that gives the game a fantastic atmosphere. Environmental storytelling is fantastic and plays a key role, giving the player lots of backstory and minute details to look over, journals or notes to read and riddles to solve. Every nook and cranny has something to look at or discover, the whole castle feels very lived in and believable. Going into the world and its story any more would ruin the sense of discovery surrounding every fiber of this game.
Control on the Nintendo switch is done with only a single Joycon or via the touch screen in handheld mode which is fine but never our personal choice on the console. User interface is simple and gets out of the way of the rest of the game, being easily hidden and recalled only when needed which is superb. Every puzzle involves solving and manipulating puzzles in a very natural and tactile way that has you moving, twisting or rotating objects that is fun and rewarding. Even objects that cannot be directly interacted with will give a knock or puff of dust when clicked on, making the world feel fully immersive.
Full of elaborate and devious puzzles, The Eyes of Ara is absolutely for fans of the classic adventures games or lovers of fiendishly clever puzzles. An amazing feat for a one man game studio and a game that firmly asserts itself as a must play title, regardless of platform.
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Mat Panek, Chief Reporter
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.
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Disclosure: The Eyes of Ara [Nintendo Switch eShop code] was kindly provided by Stride PR for this review.
