Game: Ary and the Secret of Seasons
Genre: Adventure | Action | Role-Playing
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, PlayStation 4 & Xbox One)
Developers | Publishers: eXiin & Fishing Cactus | Modus Games
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US E10
Price: EU €39,99 | USD $39.99 | UK £34.99
Release Date: September 1st, 2020
Review code used, with many thanks to Modus Games
Ary Secret of Seasons by developers eXiin and Fishing Cactus was first announced in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch at the Gamescom, it looked like a promising title. And now it has finally been released and on the PS4 and Xbox One as well. Let’s take a look and see if it was worth the wait.
Ary and the Guardians
You take on the role of Aryelle, or Ary for short in this action, adventure game. Ary is a young girl who’s father is the Guardian of winter. Ary and her parents and brother Flynn live in the peaceful land of Valdi, a land of four regions each representing one of the four seasons.
But something dreadful has gone wrong, Flynn has gone missing and the seasons have gotten a little mixed up, meaning the folk in the warm region of Valdi are shivering in their swimming costume in the bitterly cold winter snow.
After a slow build-up to the storyline, told in voice-acted scenes and sections of text the game finally kicks off when Ary is instructed by the Guardians of Seasons to hunt for the season crystals to restore the seasons to there original regions.
With hints of traditional Zelda action-adventure with puzzles elements and platforming you set off on a journey as Ary. Ary seeks out the four crystals that hold the power of the seasons and season switching is what drives most of the puzzles in Ary.
Once Ary has the crystals in her possession the puzzle elements come into their own, especially in later puzzles in the game. Ary can use Winter crystal to reveal frozen platforms or blocks of ice which help her traverse certain areas. Using the Summer crystals she can melt ice, Autumn crystal can make plants grow, such as vines for Ary to climb, and lastly, spring fills an area with water.
I enjoyed the changing of seasons as the game’s main element and thought it was quite cleverly used by the developers, especially during the puzzles which become quite satisfying to solve later in the game.
Exploring and Combat
Ary wields her sword during combat to take out the enemies with are mostly Hyena’s scattered around Valdi. Ary can parry attacks, strike quickly, and block with her sword. She can also lock on to an enemy.
There are a few different difficulty settings to chose from when you start playing Ary: easy, normal, hard, and insane. I tried the normal and hard settings and I must say even on the hard setting the combat in the game wasn’t a challenge at all. And since Ary doesn’t gain experience or level up during combat when killing enemies it is hard to see why you should fight them rather than walking around them. Ary can gain new abilities and can upgrade her combat strengths using gold she finds in hidden treasure chests throughout the world of Valdi.
Ary’s world is quite big, with ruined dungeons to explore and towns to visit, there is plenty to see. However, in the world between these points of interest is a lot of empty space with nothing to see or do. There are quests for Ary to take on and complete, these are mostly running around in the towns from one NPC to another and after a while these can feel repetitive.
The story is functional and interesting enough to push you along to see how it unfolds, Ary is a plucky girl with a can-do attitude in a world where women are not meant to wield a sword. Sadly any NPC’s you meet along the way and interact with to take on a quest, look very wooden as their features barely move.
Visuals and Controls
The voice acting in the cutscene is pretty good, and it’s really during these story cutscenes that Ary and the Secret of Seasons shines. The Shrek cartoon style of the cutscenes are very well executed and a pleasure to watch.
Unfortunately, the same cant be said for how the game runs on the Nintendo Switch as this is where Ary and the Secret of Seasons disappoints. From the onset of the opening scenes and once you take full control of Ary and start to take in her surroundings the game’s problems become apparent.
Looking out over the vistas of Valdi you can’t see anything but fogging blocking the view. That’s not so great in itself but when you add in the other glitches that the game has it is disappointing. I had instants of Ary screen clipping and falling through the floor, where her legs would disappear, or getting stuck in her surroundings.
Framerate problems are also very apparent. For a game that has been in development for quite some years I really expected it to run better than it does. The development team has updated their blog with a list of the game glitches, so that does give me some hope that these problems will be ironed out with an update at a later time.
Controls are fine for the most part, though the platforming sections of the game feel a little inaccurate and not the most intuitive.
The music and sound effects are actually quite good, however, you don’t really get to enjoy it as it cuts in and out, a bit like a broken record.
Conclusion
I had been looking forward to playing Ary and the Secret of Seasons since the game was announced. Unfortunately, I’m left feeling disappointed in the game. I do like the swapping of seasons mechanic to solve the puzzles. Once the game is updated and if the glitches are successfully removed I do think Ary and the Secret of Seasons would make a great family game for the whole family to play together.
As the game is at the moment with its frequent framerate drops, stuttering and glitches which actually put you off playing the game. I can’t, in all honesty, recommended it as a fun and entertaining experience currently.
Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure