The Dark Eye: Memoria

In this PC game by, Daedalic Entertainment, you will be taking on the role of Geron a bird catcher with quite a few secrets. Your one mission is to free the fairy princess that is your love from her cursed raven body. There's a catch though, the longer she's in the body the less likely she will be able to retain all that she knows, so you're going to have to hurry. You're also going to meet quite a few characters, one of which can help you transform your love back. You will first have to listen to a story, though, and this story is where most of the game actually takes place. You will be playing the part of an exiled princess who joins up with a search party trying to uncover a magical mask that could win a war between the humans and the demons. In this point and click adventure you're going to have to be very aware of your surrounds and figure out tons of puzzles if you are ever going to be able to get through the game.

Graphically I have to say that, though the graphics didn't blow my mind, I was taken to the world that was presented to me, and was very impressed with the way they made the areas look, the characters look, and of course the different eras look. There were a couple of hiccups when it came to the cut scenes. I would hear the words, but the images would have to play catch up, though this only really happened towards the end of the game, which was a bit odd, but still the game was solid enough that it didn't deter me from wanting to continue to play.

I was very impressed with the fact that there was voice acting by basically every single person you interacted with. There were a couple of times where I wanted to strangle the main character for their "that's not going to work phrases", but I think that was more out of frustration for not being able to put the pieces together as fast as I should have.

The controls in the game are really straight forward. You're going to use the mouse to make moves, pick up items, interact with objects, and talk to people. You can also use the wheel on your mouse to cycle through spells and items in your inventory.

So you are Geron, and then you're also an exiled princess, and you are going to solve many many many puzzles. Basically almost anywhere you go is a puzzle. It might be something subtle like trying to sneak around a room, to something more complex, or with more layers like trying to escape a locked room. There is plenty of variety to be had in the game, and for the most part everything fits well into the story. I was happy to see that there wasn't a whole lot of go here, and now return, then go back out, and then return again. The story felt like it flowed, and that was huge, I believe, in making this game work. To be honest with you this is one of those games that's hard to really talk about because of the twists and turns that the story takes. There were parts of the game where I remembered the difficulty of playing a point and click adventure. What I mean by that is that there's really no grey areas for solving a puzzle its one way or it doesn't work. So creativity can sometimes feel cramped in this game, but that isn't a knock against the game, but the norm of the genre.

Apparently there was a game before this one, and there's a game after this one, so I have to say that I'm more than a little bit interested to see where the next chapter will take the story. For those out there looking for a game that is updated but keeps with the point and click roots, though in a smaller world, you might want to check this game out. For those looking for fast paced action, this is anything but what you are looking for. So with that I have to say that this game deserves an 8.7 out of 10.