I’m always looking for relaxing, immersive gaming experiences. Things like Abzu (previously), where I can follow the plot like I’m reading a novel, but also take the time to explore the world around the plot in ways a novel just doesn’t let you, and where I don’t have to be afraid of dying or disappointing anyone, or missing out on information because of the order I choose to do things in.
Forgotten Key and Daedalic Entertainment’s 2017 game AER: Memories of Old scratches all those itches. The Geek found it in a Steam sale while I was visiting him last week, and I tried it out on his computer (sadly, my laptop won’t run it at a reasonable frame rate). I couldn’t get through all of it because my hands cramped up after about an hour, but I’m looking forward to finishing it next time I visit.
AER follows the coming-of-age pilgrimage of a girl named Auk (yes, like the extinct bird) as she visits four sacred sites on the floating islands her people live on. Auk is chosen by the goddess the first site is dedicated to, who is said to have helped her people recover from the cataclysm that shattered the world and created the floating islands; she is given the goddess’ lantern, with which she can solve small puzzles to open the temples at the other three sites and find relics inside that add to the lantern’s power. There’s been some suggestion that it’s Auk’s destiny to heal the world, which is the sort of goal I love to have in a game (also one of the reasons I loved Abzu), but since my hands started hurting halfway through the second temple, I’m going to have to wait to find out.
The game has a beautiful brightly-colored low-poly aesthetic that reminds me of Astroneer, a game I would love to play if it were more conducive to short play sessions. The islands are inhabited by adorable animals, including lambs that follow you around and large wading birds that are utterly indifferent to your presence; many of the smaller islands have stone tablets that tell the story of the breaking of the world; and the holy sites feel like ancient cathedrals, so much so that I’m reluctant to run while inside. Auk transforms into a bird in order to travel between islands, and flying feels wonderful. I’m much better now at twin-stick controls (gonna thank Fortnite for that), and while Auk flies faster than the protagonist of Abzu swims, I’ve never felt out of control in the air. The exception is when I miss a landing and either hit a tree or become human too soon and fall off the edge of an island; fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be ground below the islands, so I have plenty of time to return to bird form and fly back up to where I need to be.
For the most part, the puzzles are no harder than they have to be to be interesting. Each temple has one puzzle outside, to open the door, and one inside, to get to the relic. The only one that’s bothered me so far is the puzzle inside the second temple, which requires Auk to jump across a series of moving platforms in human form. I have hated moving platforms ever since the Harry Potter action-adventure games of the early 2000s, and while the penalty for failure is much lower in AER, simply returning you to the bottom of the level, I was still frustrated enough after four or five attempts to notice my hands starting to hurt and decide that it was time to stop.
Less frustrating, but still kind of a downside, is that there are a few places where collision detection doesn’t quite work. Nothing that’s caused me to fall off an island, but one of the stone tablets was on a platform that I could not stand on without falling through. I could still read the tablet, though, so this was more amusing than annoying.
I absolutely recommend AER: Memories of Old if you like exploration games, have ever dreamed of flying, or need something relaxing to do for an afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment