Review Persian Nights: Sands of Wonder

Overall Feeling: I like it!

(Review code kindly provided by Artifex Mundi)

The game mechanics: are you casual or an expert?

Persian Nights starts with a choice between a casual or expert mode, with casual being for beginners for a more smooth experience. Being an absolute novice, I chose that one, though I can imagine I’ll go for more difficult next time to make it more of a challenge.

Now, with the abundance of hints, I was never at a loss. Hints you could activate yourself at the push of a button recharged quicker, and there was a faint blue shimmer on the screen of where to go next. The hints recharge slower in expert mode, and there’s no indication either on the screen.

The casual mode made it an easy adventure to pick up and play, quickly jumping back in where I had left off. A good option for some quick sessions on the game. Plus, there’s auto save, so no worries there either. Persian Nights is pretty linear, you can’t go wrong, but then you can’t progress either unless you have done the right steps. For instance, I just knew in one scene that I’d have to take on the snake, but I didn’t see the necessary buttons until I had completed other tasks.

Looking everywhere plus a bit of alchemy

When you are presented with a scene, it’s your job to look around. Sometimes by walking up closer for inspection. Needed objects can be picked up, but more often you have to combine them before you can make actual use of them. And it’s not like everything you need to progress can be found in the same scene. Back paddling happens often, going back to find just the right use for an item you saw earlier but couldn’t get to work. Items in your inventory that have a little + sign next to it, can be examined further. Which is fun, when for instance you find a bag that you can open with the right key, to find other much needed items in there.

What I particularly liked was the use of the apothecary bag: at times, you need to get busy in Tara’s profession. A little workbench opens up with a mortar, a small stove and some vials, and a mysterious book that has the recipes you need. It added something extra to the adventure for me, you know how I like my crafting and alchemy games. On the downside, they could have made this a bigger part of Persian Nights. And made it more interactive, like finding the recipe in the book for yourself.

Some items can only be accessed after you have performed little puzzles, like slider puzzles or matching a shadowy form. They are few though, and as far as I’m concerned, more could have been added. I read online though that there are more then there were in former games by the same publisher, so I guess I can’t complain.

Tara isn’t the only one you guide towards victory, Darius and the genie Minu interact with you as well, and at times you see little puzzles from Darius’ point of view.

Every chapter has what you could call a boss at the end. A battle Tara has to win by choosing the right orbs, choosing the right sequence etc. The game is very forgiving though, even while the tasks to perform aren’t very complicated, you can try as many times as you want. This might not be the case in Expert mode though.

Has Persian Night worked its magic?

Publisher Artifex Mundi, with developer Sodigital isn’t exactly new to this, but what is new is that this title makes it to the Switch after having been released on Steam as well as on mobile. You can check out the intro below ( don’t worry, no spoilers!)

The visuals are beautiful, the stages very detailed. A joy to look at. The game flows very well, with smooth transitions to the next scene and some cut scenes in between to weld it all together. Maybe I’m spoiled by games nowadays that have nothing less than little animated clips incorporated, but the cut scenes seemed to be a bit old fashioned, with the characters not really having any movement to them. The background music is good, and conversations are all voice acted.

There are a few things to consider though: Persian Nights isn’t long, some 5 or 6 hours when you play it in a relaxed way like I have. Aside from the adventure, you can also collect 32 palace marking, but there’s no bonus if you do. I think the price point is a bit high compared to the Steam ( €7,99) and the mobile version ( €7,99).

Considering all of this, I’m giving the game an “I Like It”