Like hundreds of thousands of youngsters within the Nineties, my first puzzle journey recreation expertise was Myst. Beautiful graphics and puzzling storytelling fired my creativeness, however my youth, the acute dullness of the sport’s puzzles, and the extreme loneliness of the gameplay snuffed out that flame. Thirty years later, once I reached the midway level of Epyka, I instantly discovered myself enjoying the sport I had all the time wished from Myst.
However Epica is not excellent. Whereas its strengths far outweigh its one main weak point, there’s one unavoidable grievance.
What’s it? : A primary-person puzzle journey starring an archaeologist and his canine.
Platform: Meta Quest (reviewed in Quest 2)
launch date: out now
Developer: peculiar recognition
value: $9.99
premise
Epyka is a VR puzzle journey recreation the place you play as archaeologist Scott Hudson, following in his father’s footsteps on a quest to find the secrets and techniques of Earth’s first civilization. Scott is accompanied by his loyal (and tremendous cute) canine Jack.
The journey begins with Scott and Jack caught in a windless state, misplaced at sea and hopelessly floating on a makeshift raft. Issues get even worse when sharks begin circling the boat. There is not any enjoyable in scrounging by way of ineffective possessions till you get your palms on a mysterious crystal, a relic of a misplaced civilization and as soon as owned by Scott’s father. The crystals sparkle and inexplicably harness the wind to propel our boat to a tropical island that has materialized close by. Create your land and begin exploring.
Earlier than the tip, we encounter the spirit of an historic civilization, uncover how a devastating previous destroys humanity’s current, and are thrust into an inevitable showdown with the demons of the underworld. Issues will get actual quickly.
sights and sounds
Epyka is a fantastic recreation. Eschewing hyperrealism in favor of a Pixar movie, the characters and areas have a softness, vibrancy, and a refreshingly heat whimsy. The environments are so detailed and intelligently designed that we all the time need to discover. Whether or not it is the sunny seaside on the primary island, the dimly lit caves within the recreation, or the molten core of a volcano, the lighting results are beautiful and fantastically set the temper. the whole lot seems nice.
The sound design is equally glorious. The environment of the setting units the tone, and a few puzzles depend on audio cues for fixing. Activate a stone button in a granite chest to listen to a reasonably crunchy sound, winds blowing down cliffs as you keep away from canyons, and mysterious artifacts roaring with latent power.
The voice performing can also be glorious and a key part to the general enjoyment. Whereas different video games on this style can really feel empty and lonely, Epyka’s builders selected to have the sport’s protagonist converse an inside monologue, however by no means an excessive amount of. At key moments, Scott muses on an answer to a puzzle, says a form phrase to his canine, or chats with a buddy who’s the chief of this historic civilization. This successfully makes us really feel much less as if we’re alone on this journey and that we’ve associates with us. Jack also can assist and you may pet the canine.
gameplay
Epyka’s gameplay facilities round exploration and puzzle-solving as you examine the titular instantly materialized ruins of a misplaced civilization. We transfer from place to position, normally fixing puzzles alongside the way in which, as we progress deeper into this island and its ruins.
Puzzles are designed to check our problem-solving abilities and infrequently contain manipulation of magical objects and environments. This consists of attaching floating orbs to scepters within the right order to open doorways, and piecing collectively irregularly geometric cubes to type bigger, uniform cubes.
A lot of gaming’s finest puzzles embrace miniature fashions that characterize the actual world round us. An early puzzle concerned attending to the middle of a round maze. Within the center is a small mannequin of the very maze you simply navigated. Nevertheless, this small mannequin has movable partitions and doorways, and solely by manipulating these partitions and doorways can you discover your strategy to the true finish of the maze.
The enjoyment of Epyka is that the puzzles are by no means complicated or irritating and all the time appear to make sense. It is logical, not in a online game approach, however in a standard sense approach. My immersion by no means broke. I by no means as soon as thought, “What do recreation designers need me to do right here?” I simply thought, “What am I lacking right here and the way can I clear up this magical puzzle?”
That is design.
As the sport progresses, Scott’s well-known crystal positive factors magical talents. By aiming the crystals at particular objects, you’ll be able to join them and drag them throughout the sport discipline. You can even use movement and momentum to throw these objects. We construct bridges with rocks, open large stone doorways, and even smash partitions by throwing rocks.
The second potential is a magic protect, which helps when enemies seem. The protect may also be used offensively by deflecting enemy assaults again on the enemy.
Fight in Epica is an surprising deal with, uncommon and lightweight, however works nicely. That’s, it really works till the tip. Fight talents are required for the ultimate moments of the sport, however this isn’t very nicely applied. The sense of urgency diminishes a bit, as clunky controls hinder the motion.
Epyka gives a variety of comfy choices in order that just about each participant can discover a comfy mode. There are standing, roomscale, and seated participant modes. You’ll be able to select between proper and left hand controls. You can even select synthetic stick-based motion or teleportation-based motion.
So what’s the issue?
Firstly of this assessment, I discussed Epyka’s imperfections, and it goes past the clunky fight on the recreation’s climax. The truth that the climax got here so rapidly actually disappoints me. Gentle spoilers within the subsequent paragraph.
The sport ends on a kind of cliffhanger. Returning to the beginning space of the sport, the museum gallery will show photographs of our adventures and a few mysterious objects that we’ve collected. There is a roped-off part and a few empty pedestals, promising extra Epica to return. The tip credit say, “The tip of the start…” hinting at a future sequel.
However what precisely does this imply? Is Epyka an episodic recreation? Will there be a sequel? Will the story progress?
My playthrough took three hours to finish, which is not all that quick contemplating you’ll be able to legitimately beat Myst in about 5 hours. However the sudden, virtually muted approach through which Epuca’s story unfolds leaves us wanting extra. Extra solutions to the sport’s many questions, extra interplay with the sport’s central characters, and extra exploration of an undeniably vibrant and lore-rich world.
We reached out to the developer to seek out out extra about what to anticipate sooner or later, whether or not extra Epyka will arrive as an episodic launch, DLC, or a direct sequel. On the time of publication, there was no response but.
Epyka Assessment – Ultimate Verdict
Epyka is a fantastic entry level for first-time puzzle journey players, and a breath of contemporary air for journey recreation veterans in search of a lighter, extra rigorously crafted expertise. With its compelling story, difficult however truthful puzzles, and companionship among the many recreation’s small variety of NPCs, Epyka is precisely the sport I want MYST had once I was 10 years previous. Contemplating my 10-year-old daughter’s pleasure the primary time she placed on the headset and stroked Jack, I feel she agrees. I want the sport had been longer.
UploadVR makes use of a 5-star ranking system for recreation evaluations. The breakdown of every star ranking is as follows: Test the rules.
