Epyka Overview: A Fantastic Journey Minimize Too Quick

Like hundreds of thousands of youngsters within the Nineties, my first expertise with puzzle-adventure video games was Myst. The jaw-dropping graphics and cryptic storytelling lit my creativeness, however my younger age, the intense obtuseness of the sport’s puzzles, and the gameplay’s intense loneliness squelched that flame. Thirty years later, as I attain the midway level of Epyka, I all of a sudden notice I am enjoying the sport I at all times wished Myst to be.

However Epyka is just not good. Whereas its strengths far outweigh its one main weak point, I do have one unavoidable criticism.

The Premise

Epyka is a VR puzzle-adventure recreation wherein gamers assume the function of Scott Hudson, an archaeologist following in his father’s footsteps on a quest to find the key of Earth’s first civilization. Scott’s accompanied by his devoted (and really cute) canine, Jack.

The journey begins with Scott and Jack caught within the doldrums, misplaced at sea, floating hopelessly on a makeshift raft. Issues worsen when sharks start circling the boat. Rummaging by way of our ineffectual belongings brings no pleasure, till we seize a mysterious crystal, an artifact of the misplaced civilization and former possession of Scott’s father. The crystal glows, inexplicably harnesses the wind, urging our boat towards a tropical island that is materialized within the close to distance. We make land, and the exploration begins.

Earlier than the tip, we have encountered a spirit of the traditional civilization, found how the ruinous previous could destroy mankind’s current, and entered an inevitable showdown with a demon of the underworld. Issues get actual, in a short time.

Sights and Sounds

Epyka is a good looking recreation. It eschews hyperrealism for one thing nearer to a Pixar movie, with characters and areas having a softness, vibrancy, and whimsy that is refreshing and heat. The environments are richly detailed and intelligently designed in order that we’re at all times looking for to discover. The lighting results are beautiful and add to the temper fantastically, whether or not we’re on the sunny seashore of our first island, a dark cave mid-game, or within the molten core of a volcano. Every thing seems nice.

The sound design is equally wonderful. Environmental atmosphere units the temper, and a few puzzles depend on audio cues for his or her answer. Actuating stone buttons on granite chests leads to suitably crunchy grinding, the wind howls by way of the cliffs as we skirt a gorge, mystical artifacts hum with latent power.

The voice appearing can be great, and a key part to my general enjoyment. The place different video games on this style can really feel vacant and lonely, Epyka’s builders elected to have their recreation’s protagonist communicate his inside monologue, although he by no means over-speaks. In key moments, Scott will muse over the answer of a puzzle, or spare a pleasant phrase for his canine, or chat with our buddy, the guiding spirit of this historical civilization. This successfully helps us to by no means really feel as if we’re on their own on this journey, that there is a buddy together with us. Jack helps too, and sure, you possibly can pet the canine.

Gameplay

Epyka’s gameplay facilities on exploration and puzzle-solving, as you examine the titular misplaced civilization’s all of a sudden materialized ruins. We go from location to location, normally fixing puzzles alongside the best way so we would progress additional and deeper into this island and its ruins.

The puzzles are designed to check our problem-solving expertise and sometimes contain manipulation of magical objects or our surroundings. This consists of becoming floating orbs right into a scepter within the right order to open a door, or piecing collectively irregular geometric dice shapes to kind a bigger, uniform dice.

Lots of the recreation’s greatest puzzles contain miniature fashions consultant of the true world round us. In a single early puzzle, we handle to search out our manner into the middle of a round maze. Within the center, we discover a small mannequin of the very maze that we simply navigated. Nonetheless, this small mannequin has movable partitions and doorways, and solely by manipulating these partitions and doorways can we discover our option to the true endpoint of the maze.

The enjoyment of Epyka is that the puzzles by no means really feel obtuse or irritating, they at all times appear to make sense. They’re logical, not in a video-gamey manner, however in a standard sense manner. My immersion was by no means damaged. I by no means as soon as thought, “What do the sport designers need me to do right here?” I solely thought, “What am I lacking right here, how do I clear up this magical puzzle?”

That is good design.

As we progress by way of the sport, Scott’s well-known crystal acquires magical skills. By pointing the crystal at sure objects, we’re capable of tether to them and drag them in regards to the recreation area. We will additionally use motion and momentum to toss these objects. We’re constructing bridges with boulders, opening monumental stone doorways, and even hurling stones to shatter partitions.

A second potential is a magical protect, which proves helpful when enemies seem. You possibly can even use your protect offensively by returning enemies’ assaults again at them.

Fight in Epyka is an sudden deal with, and although it is uncommon and lightweight, it really works nicely. That’s, it really works nicely till the tip. The ultimate moments of the sport require your fight skills, and this is not carried out very nicely. The sense of urgency fades a bit as clunky controls hamper the motion.

So, What is the Downside?

Initially of this evaluation, I alluded to Epyka’s imperfection, and that goes past clunky fight on the recreation’s climax. The truth that stated climax got here so quickly is what actually places me off. Minor spoilers forward within the subsequent paragraph.

The sport ends on one thing of a cliffhanger. Upon returning to the sport’s beginning space, a museum gallery exhibits photos of our journey and a few of the mystical objects we have collected all through. There is a roped off part and a few empty plinths, promising that there is extra Epyka nonetheless to come back. The tip credit alludes to a future follow-up, stating, “The Finish… of the start.”

However what precisely does this imply? Is Epyka an episodic recreation? Is there a sequel coming? Will the story go on?

My playthrough took three hours to finish, which isn’t terribly brief, contemplating that Myst will be overwhelmed legitimately in about 5 hours. However the abrupt, virtually attenuated manner that Epyka’s narrative unfolds leaves us wanting extra; extra solutions to the sport’s many questions, extra interplay with the sport’s central characters, extra exploration of what’s undeniably a vibrant and lore-lush world.

We have contacted the builders for readability on what to anticipate for the longer term, whether or not there’s extra Epyka coming as episodic releases, or DLC, or a straight sequel. As of publishing, we have not but heard again.

Epyka Overview – Closing Verdict

Epyka is a good looking entry level for first-time puzzle-adventure players, and a breath of contemporary air for journey recreation veterans looking for a lighter, well-crafted expertise. Its compelling narrative, difficult however truthful puzzles, and the companionship of the sport’s few NPCs make Epyka precisely the sport that I needed MYST was once I was ten years previous. Given my ten-year-old daughter’s pleasure when she donned the headset and patted Jack for the primary time, I believe she agrees. We solely want the sport was longer.

UploadVR makes use of a 5-Star ranking system for our recreation critiques – you possibly can learn a breakdown of every star ranking in our evaluation tips.