Again in 2018, the Swap’s touchscreen performance made point-and-click video games, as soon as finest performed on PC, far more accessible for console gamers. Actually, many video games on our record of Finest Level And Click on Journey Video games launched within the hybrid console’s second yr – NAIRI: Tower Of Shirin amongst them. Six years later, Dutch developer HomeBear Studio continues the story with Nairi: Rising Tide. So does it rise to the event? Nearly.
We’ll elaborate in a second, however first a fast warning that gentle spoilers for Tower Of Shirin lie forward. The primary instalment isn’t a prerequisite; if you happen to haven’t performed it or want a recap, Rising Tide has an elective narrative part wherein Nairi tells the story of her earlier journey. That mentioned, Tower Of Shirin gamers will come outfitted with advantageous information of the lore.
Each video games happen in Shirin, a metropolis divided into Wealthy, Center, and Poor Districts. Within the first recreation, Wealthy District resident Nairi’s mother and father had been unlawfully arrested and he or she was pressured into hiding – the place she now stays. When Rising Tide begins, we see Tower Of Shirin’s story from the attitude of Shiro, whose father is on the Shirin Council with Nairi’s father. We later change again to Nairi’s standpoint and the 2 children attempt to sneak again into the Wealthy District, encountering corrupt governments, uprisings, kidnappings and mysterious magical forces alongside the best way.
That’s a truncated model of the complete story, which we really feel is a bit difficult to observe. The sequel introduces loads of characters and subplots, but there’s not a lot time to understand all of them. Because the narrative tides turned, we discovered the easiest way to not drown in B tales was to carry on to Nairi and Shiro’s quests whereas the opposite components washed over us.
The characters’ lengthy conversations give Rising Tides a visible novel really feel. The dialogue is cute and accommodates many childlike (bordering on tacky) jokes, although it has extra critical undertones with the corruption and sophistication battle themes. Whenever you traverse Shirin, the puzzles are mild: you may do a buying and selling sequence, fill within the blanks, sort things together with your instruments, or ship a misplaced merchandise. You’ll want a pointy eye to identify the assorted cash and objects on the bottom when you discover, as loads of the time the interactable components mix with the backdrop.
The dungeons are the place the puzzles actually get to shine, and with only one or two characters current the dialogue turns into sparse. The puzzles are brain-cranking and often satisfying to resolve. They aren’t vastly irritating, although they are often murky in a manner that appears at odds with the kid-friendly humour. There are solely three dungeons however these multi-roomed, multi-levelled fortresses take up about half the sport, with puzzles that see you run out and in of rooms and ranges to drag a lever connecting to a different ground or piece collectively a number of components (generally actually). They typically problem you to assume onerous and use each instrument, faucet each wall and each piece of furnishings, even when it doesn’t look interactable. In a single puzzle you spin a dial to color in numerous icons, in one other you memorise the sequence of a narrative, in one other you direct a laser beam to hit an orb.
Early on you’ll get entry to the Trace Chick, who prices one coin for a puzzle trace within the type of somewhat drawing. It’s not dishonest, we promise; the hints may be fairly cryptic in themselves. The Trace Chick additionally permits you skip dungeons altogether if you happen to get too caught and simply wish to proceed the story. We’d like to boast that we accomplished our playthrough without having hints however, alas, many puzzles use a logic that takes some getting used to, or faucet right into a minute a part of the lore. Oftentimes we’d get our trace and mumble ‘Oh, I by no means would’ve gotten that.’ It’s clear HomeBear paid consideration to suggestions (equivalent to our Tower Of Shirin overview, which famous the tendency in the direction of obtuse puzzles, which you may argue are a staple of the style) with these hints – and we’re grateful they did.
Since Rising Tide is point-and-click, handheld mode is your good friend right here. The display is responsive and though a couple of gadgets look miniscule, the tappable space is large. In docked mode, menus may be fiddly with the controller, however these a fan of the large display gained’t discover the expertise dampened. It additionally affords the choice of movement controls the place you’ll be able to level and click on your Pleasure-Cons on the TV, so long as you’re okay with a scarcity of precision.
The sport’s efficiency is a bit laggy and froze early on after we paused a cutscene. We additionally skilled sluggish load screens when transferring between areas. Hopefully these bugbears get patched at a later date although, as they shouldn’t deter eager gamers.
Cleaner graphics and turned-up colors can be a distinguishable distinction for present followers, whereas newcomers will merely benefit from the hand-drawn watercolour aesthetic that paints the lovable characters and classical setting. That, plus the comparatively minimal animation, reminded us of image books.
The music matches so nicely that you just won’t discover it. We imply that in a great way, because it’s by no means distracting once you’re making an attempt to soak up waves of textual content or consider a mystifying puzzle. Cheerful marimbas within the city, sluggish minor guitar plucks within the dungeons, and satisfying chimes for fixing puzzles – all of it makes for an aurally nice expertise.
Conclusion
Nairi: Rising Tide is a strong, if barely inferior, sequel that expands the world established in Tower Of Shirin. Some sluggish load screens and difficult-to-discernible gadgets shouldn’t hamper your total enjoyment an excessive amount of, particularly if you happen to liked the primary entry. The tricksy puzzles are nice, although you might must shell out for hints. And when you may really feel such as you’re wading via the story at occasions, there’s sufficient narrative thread to drag you thru to a tense ending. No spoilers however the closing moments left us already eager to know what Nairi, Shiro, and their buddies stand up to subsequent.
