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Hello guys, today we are taking a peek at Secrets Of Raetikon, an indie adventure. I
have to emphasise that at the moment this is early access on steam, meaning it's not
finished yet. However you should also know it plays absolutley
fine, and the areas that are available felt completed. If its not done yet - they do leave
a little note telling you!
Anyway, onto what its actually about! You play as a bird, which in itself is imensly
satisfying once you get a hang of flying and how to use the wind to your advantage.
The basics are that as you fly around you collect 'Slivers' these in turn are inserted
into these pillars which give you a shard. Collect these at the main starting area and
you start opening up things hidden there. You will also come across plenty of rune stones,
which are undeciperable at first. As you find secret areas and explore each
level you will slowly unlock the translation of these one letter at a time.
Areas flow smoothly onto each other, yet all had a different feel to them.
Some take place predominately in the sky, others
in heavy forests, or even swamp like territory.
Its not as simple as it seems as you do face more adverseries the deeper into the world
you go. These range from clouds of mosquites to hawks
and jackals, the environment itself can hurt you if you are not careful.
Even going to collect a shard is not always as simple as you might assume.
Fortunatly if you ever get into any trouble just uproot saplings for more health, or find
it from smashing pots and skulls. The enemys can be taken out of action, you
can lure them into spikes, or eachother, drop things on their head, trap them - its really
up to you.
If they get hold of you it does cause a brief moment of panic, but everything I encoutered
let me go after a small knaw on my legs. There was never a point where I came close
to dying although you do have a limited number of lives, you should be just fine as long
as you keep moving. Make use of the wind currents to really pick
up speed, and dive away with a few fancy spins for maximum style.
The puzzle like areas throughout the game are not challenging and often require you
to just explore the land around you. To open new areas you need to complete things
-such as constructing statues- however there are often multiple ways out of a level, so
you have choices on where you wish to proceed to.
The graphics themselves are a very unique style that lends wonderfully to the game.
It's almost origami like in appearance, and makes good use of colours.
The music is relaxing, but does ramp up when you are in different areas. This combination
of the visuals and sound fit really well together, and are what make the game.
As you go around there are plenty of extra little things to do if you so desire, you
can rescue birds and return them to their nest, free trapped animals...
or lead them to their death to protect yourself.
The pacing of the game feels good, just as I was comfortable enough with something it
would be required, for instance it gives you time to adjust to
flying before making you play India Jones down this tunnel of spikes!
You learn quickly what to look for to progress, and how to handle hostiles.
Control wise it feels quite natual, for the majority i used an xbox controller, as gamepad
was recommended - the triggers do not work, use the bumpers instead for grabbing and diving.
I did switch over to the keyboard just to check it out, the controls work just as advertised
there.
One thing to mention is there is no map, I certainly didnt feel the need for one, but
if you have a terrible sense of direction you could find yourself going in circles.
This is not a game to just rush though, its a casual, beautiful game and the time passed
suprisingly quickly while playing it. I felt it did a good job at pacing new challenges
and while there was obviously some repetitiveness with steps to take in each area there was
also something relatively fresh to do for each shard.
Do keep an eye out for hidden passages as you go, sometimes you can pass through rocks
that look solid,
I did feel these could be a little more obvious, as then I flew around smashing my beak into
all the cliffs looking for secrets!
There's also a nice stat page which can tell you how many poor innocent creatures you have
murdered, among other, less guilt ridden things.
All the runes did do a good job of intriging me, and I will certainly finish it off and
get the full translations for them to uncover the secrets of Raetikon.
This game is consistent with its atmosphere and certainly does a a great job at feeling
like you are actually flying- not just walking in the air. Its also varied
enough to keep you interested and on your toes, so I recommend it if you are looking for something
a bit different.
I've put a link to the steam page in the description, so give it a look if you liked what you saw.
Once again, remember its not fully completed yet - but so far so good!
Thanks for watching!