Quern: Undying Thoughts

A delicious puzzle adventure in the spirit of Myst and Riven. The many puzzles are difficult but fair, and any fan of the genre can solve them without resorting to a walkthrough. It will, though, require a hefty amount of diligence, patience, observation skills, and quite a bit of backtracking. Fortunately, the game takes place in rather small areas and by using the "run" key you can move around fairly quickly.

Though small, the world is pretty and charming. It's not overwhelmingly detailed and the details all make sense, whether they are clues to puzzles or there to flesh out the narrative. The story is small, too, but takes place in a grand scope. There are surprise twists and delights, and the plot thickens as you move forward, peeling layers away like an onion. This is done by peeling away the layers of the environment, too, for a remarkably self-contained experience.

If I must complain, then it's for some lack of polish. The text in English is sometimes a bit awkward. No serious grammatical errors, but generally not very well written. The story itself is solid, though.

And I got stuck in the landscape a few times, but did manage to wiggle myself out with the help of the "jump" button (maybe that's what it's for?).

Also, you can take snapshots in the game using your in-game sketchbook. This is crucial for keeping track of clues. Unfortunately, the sketches you take are not actual photos: they are stylized in black-and-white and are often blurry. It's a beautiful system, but sometimes useless. So, you might want to find other ways to capture the screen. I just took photos using my phone!

Finally, gamepad support is quirky, with some weird bindings that cannot be changed. Some puzzles are very awkward with the gamepad, and you can't operate the menus with a gamepad at all. So, keep a mouse handy if you want to play with a gamepad.

These complaints are all minor. This is a wonderful game and I strongly recommend it.