Nova: Cloudwalker's Tale

Отличная игрулька! Некоторые головоломки довольно заковыристые. Музыка расслабляющая. Советую, если хотите немного размять мозги.

In this game, you move cloud tiles to create a path so your character can reach the other side of the screen. You need to pay attention to the size and shape of the cloud tiles so you can fit them through gaps and around obstacles. Your character can stand on one cloud while you move another, so with only a few pieces you can cross quite the distance by alternating which cloud you stand on. You cannot rotate the cloud pieces so you need to plan your moves carefully. There is an undo button. There's no time limit to the puzzles. It's entirely turn-based and there are no enemies. You can retry as much as you want. I was pleasantly surprised with the challenge. The different mechanics are cleverly introduced and combined. The difficulty curve is great, the puzzles are well-designed and teach the mechanics. I never felt condescended to, and each one I solved gave me a feeling of accomplishment. There are branching paths and a level select so that if you are stuck on one level you can usually pick another to try first. You win by reaching the other side of the level and can then move to the next, but there are also stars to collect by taking a specific, trickier path. Figuring those out really feels like an achievement. The game expected me to actually think, which was a breath of fresh air in an era where it seems most games are way too easy. The story is extremely minimal, with abstract found lore in the form of murals. I don't mind. The atmosphere of mystery is charming, and I like that the focus of the game is the puzzles. I love that the art does not distract from the puzzle. It's clear and not too busy. The music got stuck in my head, which was both a good and a bad thing. The music is great, but I wish there was more than one track. Controls were good, you can play with just the mouse. It worked right away on Linux. No crashes. There are plenty of levels. I've spent several play sessions working through it. Excellent game, good value, highly recommend!

Nova: Cloudwalker's Tale is one of those hidden gems that has gone under the radar. Devised by only 3 people and being their first game, I can't wait for future games from them. The Cloudwalker's tale is open to interpretation. It opens with the Cloudwalker being woken up and witnessing the destruction of a tree of stars exploding....a supernova event. The Cloudwalker has to track down all the star shards throughout the cosmos and restore the tree. There are 134 shards to find and over 70 puzzles to solve. Gameplay is simply collecting the shards and going to the exit. Sounds easier than it is. Your best friends are the white clouds that you can traverse easily, you cannot step onto storm clouds which often block your way and then you have two types of crystal clouds which dissolve once you step on them. This is not an easy game; in fact it is quite difficult at times. Some puzzles you can solve in two minutes, others take an hour to wrap your head around. I literally got a brainache trying to work things out! I found that I had to retrain my brain to think outside the box, and once that sunk in after several sessions, the puzzles became much easier. It was a similar experience I had with the Paper Trail game. Music was gentle and unobtrusive which helped to keep me calm as I was close to rage quitting a few times! Graphics were simple but clean and crisp. I really liked the graphic style of the cutscenes. A full game of that style would be wonderful. Movement was quick and I encountered no bugs in the game. The main downside of this game was that there are no achievements!!! It is a pity because the achievements would encourage people to keep on trying and push through. It gave no incentive and no reward for getting your brain cells in a knot! But other than that, it is a good solid puzzle game to complete. Oh, in the discussions there is a link to a small Japanese YouTuber who completed all the puzzles. It was funny to hear her and her brains trust beating their brains out over some of the puzzles. I completed all but 6 random puzzles on my own, so I was chuffed about that.....even if it took me over 20 hours to complete! If you are a puzzle lover and enjoy a challenge, this is for you. Highly recommend. 8.5/10 Points deducted due to no achievements.