The Eyes of Ara

I am always a sucker for 3D puzzle adventures like The Room, The House Of Da Vinci, Returner 77, and Alleys. This is another Amazing game that I think is in the same level of them. The graphics are amazing, sure the lighting effects are scaled down but this is iOS hardware so you can’t really complain. The puzzles are quite challenging but at the same time they are fun to solve, even though I looked up a walkthrough a few times. The indoors of the castle is really detailed. All the rooms and hallways are fun to explore because of that. I also like the idea of collecting stuff like tokens, photos, toys, etc. Even though I don’t care about them much, It’s always rewarding to find them. Achievements are also a nice surprise! I always like when games like this have achievements. So in general I have 0 complaints. I haven’t finished the game yet, which is good because I will be sad when it’s over. (Can’t believe only 1 person created this, oh my god)

This is beautiful, every nook and cranny that you can explore has so much detail, quirks, and surprises. It has a VERY original story and there is SO much to SEE! I kept getting lost, like a kid in a mansion....all alone and left to explore. The story drives the art and it isn’t one you will have heard before. It is also one THE most challenging games that I can remember. We are talking hours upon hours of wonderful fun, a story you haven’t heard before, a few giggles, it has a plot you must follow and part of you will want to hurry on while the other part doesn’t want to skip a single detail. I have played a lot of games and tested others...this one is going to be one of my all time favorites that will get played again and again. I do SO hope that there will be more amazing stories from this amazing designer.

response required

First of all there’s no hints system so if you get stuck you HAVE to cheat and look it up online, Second you keep getting stuck because the puzzles are not explained in the tutorial, in fact the tutorial does practically nothing to explain any part of the game. sometimes the puzzles are the total opposite of what you think they are and it’s really frustrating when you spend so long on them and turns out you’ve been doing it totally wrong this whole time. THIS IS WHY YOU NEED THE HINT SYSTEM. Most annoying thing I find is that besides the main mechanics of the game there are collectibles which makes the game so much more hard and so much less rewarding, she works so hard but you still didn’t even complete the actual game in the end. And last of all the mechanics are horrible, if you want a good compelling game worth five dollars buy the room. This game would greatly benefit from a hint system since the storyline is actually compelling and interesting, but the often times confusing puzzles and mechanics of the game get in the way of that and ruin the experience.

I originally gave this game five stars, but then I got to the end, and one of the final puzzles required some fairly advanced math, which seemed one step too far. (I do not like resorting to a walk-through, but I would not have solved this puzzle without one). Unlike other reviewers, I did not mind the vague clues and difficulty of most of the puzzles, although I got frustrated with a few that required me to do something rather obscure in another level to reach an area in a previous level. Also, I found a Chapter 3 area in Chapter 1, with a hidden gear in need of lever, which I’m pretty sure I never found, and which did not change the outcome of the game. All that said, I did love the freshness of this game, the challenging puzzles, and the length. I definitely feel like I got my money’s worth.

Pros: it's a beautifully produced game with a good story and exquisite graphics in a nice 3D environment.... navigation works well.... there are lots of puzzles, superb attention to detail, and it's long. Cons: clues and puzzles are vague and everything is so spread out that the environment became a hindrance, and there's no map. So if, like me, you're not someone with a photographic memory for where everything is, you can spend lots of time just trying to find rooms that you've been in and want to return to. It's lovely that there are a lot of rooms but after a while it just became annoying. Some rooms only have one thing in them. I got so tired of going all over the place trying to remember where something was. I also agree with the reviewer who mentioned how there are numerous puzzles that require much work and end up only getting you an achievement... doing nothing to advance you in the game. Personally, I don't really care about achievements and each time this happened it was disappointing. I thought I'd had a breakthrough... but no. I could go on, but suffice it to say that the frustration level has surpassed the pleasure level. I'm exhausted and It's not fun anymore. Not sure if I even want to try to finish. This game, while beautiful in many ways, has worn me down.