Game: The Eyes of Ara
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, mobile)
Developer|Publisher: 100 Stones Interactive| Stride PR
Age Rating: EU 3+| US E
Price: $14.99 US | £11.69 | € 8,99
Release Date: 15th October 2019
Review code used, with many thanks to Stride PR
The Eyes of Ara is a 3D adventure/puzzle game started out as a Kickstarter project. Once funding was completed, Ben Droste, independent developer and founder of 100 Stones Interactive, created The Eyes of Ara.
Mystery: mysterious lights and a radio signal
An old abandoned castle sits on a small island of the Scottish coast, once belonging to a wealthy and reclusive man. Local folklore tells stories of shipments of strange machinery and scientific equipment arriving at the castle in the dark of night and mysterious lights that floated and swirled around the castle.
A young family, relatives of the castle owner, visit the castle and stay for a while. One night the activity of the mysterious lights intensifies. Suddenly the lights disappear, along with the young family and the castles’ owner.
Years later a horrible storm ravages the island shore and the folk from the local village on the mainland watch as the lights come alive again, flying and floating around the castle. Ever since the storm the castle has remained empty and undisturbed. Until lately that is….
A mysterious radio signal has begun broadcasting from within the castle. It interferes with over-the-air communications in the surrounding area. An engineer is sent to the castle to investigate the signal and discover its source. Ultimately, he has to shut the signal down!
Sleuthing in the castle
As the player it’s you who takes on the role of the engineer who is sent to investigate the radio signal emitting from the castle. It’s only logical then that you spend the entirety of your time playing The Eyes of Ara within the castle.
The game doesn’t present the entire story before setting out as the assigned engineer. As you navigate your way through the castle the narrative unfolds. Reading documents scattered around the castle reveals information about the mysterious eyes and the castles previous occupants. Plus, interacting with the environment gives you extra insights as well.
As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that the last person to occupy the castle was a researcher and his family. His documents reveal his efforts to understand the strange Eyes.
The storyline is nothing unique but I must say, the way it unfolds by means of the puzzles is cool. The environment in the castle also adds to the sense of mystery you feel as you explore.
Great mix of puzzles
Puzzles aplenty await you in the castle. These range from logic puzzles to ‘collect-and-use-the-appropriate-inventory-item’ kind of puzzle. There are also puzzles that you manipulate directly such as finding a handle to fit a lever and then moving it.
Some of the puzzles are pretty easy and don’t require much thought to complete. However, The Eyes of Ara does have its share of puzzles that do require a lot more thought processes to complete. Overall, there’s a great mix of puzzles for the player.
Eyes of Ara has full touchscreen control in handheld mode. By tapping the screen you move to the door or near an object and looking around is done by swiping the screen. The controls are intuitive and work very well.
The first few rooms and puzzles in the castle are in fact a short tutorial to introduce the player to the games’ controls and the games’ environment and how to navigate it. Once you move through those rooms you arrive in the large castle hall. The game then starts to open up with larger rooms to explore, more documents and letters to discover and read. The puzzles increase in difficulty too.
Any letters, documents or items you read or collect are stored in your inventory and are easily accessible by a touch of a finger. Having access to the letters or documents you find throughout your journey around the castle is a nice touch as you can refresh your memory at any time should you need to.
Hard to believe the game is developed by one guy!
Graphically Eyes of Ara is a delight for the eyes, from the lighting effects as the Eyes of Ara fly around before your eyes, right down to the puff of dust that rises up from any item you disturb in the environment. The sound effects and music also add to the atmosphere of the old abandoned castle theme.
I’ve had a great fun time giving my brain a workout while playing Eyes of Ara and have enjoyed the puzzles. I didn’t find anything too frustrating to complete. Everything works well, right down to the controls for the game.
The visuals are really lovely, the puzzles are weaved in well into the surrounding environment. The difficulty in the puzzles is balanced just right. The story is average, but the surroundings and puzzles certainly do make up for that.
Considering this is game has been developed basically by one person in Ben Droste, it makes me wonder what he could achieve with a team behind him!
