Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom is a perspective based mostly puzzle recreation from indie developer Shatterproof Video games. Aarik is a younger prince with a bedridden father, lacking mom, and, as you in all probability guessed, a ruined kingdom. Utilizing the king’s crown, the titular prince navigates via isometric ranges that twist and remodel to disclose a path ahead. Over the course of the sport Aarik will obtain particular crystals that award him bonus skills for his quest. These manifest in 4 totally different colours that every have totally different powers. These crystals can flip again time to rebuild destroyed buildings, transfer towers, or management robotic allies to resolve puzzles. These skills serve to boost the puzzles and break up the sport into distinct sections. Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom emphasizes the comfy vibe in all facets. The ambiance is chill; the music accentuates the calming nature of the customarily easy puzzles. The puzzles are supposed to twist the participant’s viewpoint with out being brain-busting troublesome. That is by design; Shatterproof Video games needs Aarik to be a chill recreation you could loosen up whereas enjoying. Over the span of the roughly two hours it took to see the journey to the top, I by no means confronted a problem that stumped me. If something, the one roadblocks encountered on the trail to revive Aarik’s kingdom had been points with controls. A few of the powers had been a bit spotty once they wished to work with me; The robotic management energy would by accident deactivate after I didn’t need it to, utilizing the telekinesis energy could be powerful to line up the blocks to make them match precisely, and the rewind time energy could be very finicky with the place it will line up the paths to permit passage. The frustration from this was, admittedly, slight however was noticeable sufficient to be disruptive of the general expertise. Total Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom is a soothing journey that may be accomplished in a single sitting. The visuals and soundtrack lend themselves completely to this quaint little journey that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The crystal powers do a terrific job at including some spice to the gameplay, however the implementation of them are a bit sensitive and might trigger some frustration. This evaluation relies on a retail copy of the sport offered by the writer. A brief stress-free journey with a couple of hiccups 6/10 Abstract Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom is a recreation that’s predominant characteristic is how stress-free it may be to resolve some perspective puzzles. Nevertheless, the quick run time is stung with some finnicky gameplay components.