Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches

I really enjoyed this game. It's a Myst-like but you can pick up items...similar to Lighthouse. Set in Wales, it’s a decent supernatural mystery with a nice solemn atmosphere that approaches creepy. While the gameplay is a little janky, you can move around fast and I found a lot of the puzzles to be very satisfying. The puzzles come from finding/remembering items and locations, as well as gathering information; there are no 7th Guest style puzzles here. The supernatural nature of the game also means that the puzzles have a nice esoteric logic to them that never feels silly. The UI can get finicky when you’re mousing around for clues but is perfectly serviceable. Your cursor changes to indicate travel, pickupables and a gear icon for things you need to use an item on. It should be noted that you can click on items but not pick them up until you know you need them. While this can help focus your objective, you might want to keep notes on what you find. On the plus side, it does mean that new interactions don’t just appear randomly. From the start you know what you are eventually going to have to use in the game. Other than that, there’s a nice fast travel feature in the map which really cuts down on the frustration of running around and a notes section where the game keeps you apprised as to what you’re looking for. There was only one part where I was bogged down by a pixel hunt, the rest was logic and memory based (and noting that you can combine items). I found this game very endearing between the atmosphere and the puzzles. I definitely recommend giving it a go as long as you enjoy item hunts and are not looking for puzzle set pieces (i.e. 7 th Guest style).

A really fun adventure. Nothing gets too hards, but it requires thinking about it.

I'm no stranger to old, clunky, unique games, & Rhiannon fits into each category pretty well. It's not for everyone, but I greatly enjoyed it. The level of artistry (particularly in the writing) shown by a game w/3 amateur developers behind it is striking. In my opinion you must enjoy reading to enjoy this game. There's nothing wrong w/not being a reader, mind you, but the plot's transmitted via documents & if the player skims or glances thru, they won't grasp the minute details that add so much atmosphere. This is where the game fails, too, unfortunately; the final puzzle, & the ending, are essentially something planned by another character, but that person's efforts failed, which left me a little taken aback when mine succeeded w/out a hitch. (In general, the ending feels too hasty.) While this is really more of a fantasy game than a horror one, the hauntings & supernatural moments are honestly more impactful w/their trappings of low-quality textures & stilted animations. As you progress, the veil seems to grow progressively thinner, til you're not only seeing things that now no longer exist but entering rooms long since boarded up. Media can have a sort of myopic focus on Victorian era ghosts; Rhiannon touches on the Edwardian era instead & also the 1960s, which I thought was really charming. The written documents from each era have their own distinct & accurate voices too. The mythological aspects are very interesting but it's there that things felt a little sillier. I think it was each chapter's ending puzzle that did it, w/their item hunting & kind of cheesy cutscenes. The symbolism & meaning are still there, but conveyed in ways that betray how much of a struggle the development must have been. I found the music very well done, obviously written by someone w/training. Some reviews found the ending theme jarring but I enjoyed it. It could be a bit loud, especially coming in out of nowhere as it does. In general, recommended w/some caveats. I liked it!

There's nothing wrong with the story itself, it's completely serviceable for a puzzle game. Also, it's always nice to have a game based on actual folklore. The game is just bad at telling it. It basically shoves a heap of paper into your hands right at the start. If you don't read the rather dry 50 pages on Welsh folklore, your won't know what is going on. And this just keeps going! Every document seems three times as long as in other games. You have to read through the journal of a teenage game and it really just is pages of pages of teenage girl journal. And you know you can't skip anything, because you might miss a clue. The other problem are the puzzles theselves. It's an inventory-based puzzle game in a limited environment. This is rather strange, since these games are usually linear. So the designers had to find a way to prevent you from filling your inventory right from the start and then try everything on everything. They did this by making you unable to pick objects up that you don't need at the moment - and recommend you write down where everything is you migh need later. You see where this is going? Yes, you mainly run around looking for things you allready found earlier. And sometimes you can't pick things up you're absolutely sure you'd need right now. Other puzzles are also horribly designed. There is a translation puzzle with dozens of words that RESETS evey time you make one wrong click, just to name an example. All in all, I can say I wasn't that angry at a puzzle game since Quern.