The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav (TDE:CoS) is a 2D point-and-click adventure game in the traditional style of older games like The Curse of Monkey island. Most of the puzzles are inventory-based, and as you solve each puzzle the story moves forward. It follows the formula pretty closely and it isn't trying to break new ground or do anything particularly innovate with the genre.

There are a couple things which I noticed immediately when I started playing this. Firstly, the devs have tried to set a fairly serious fantasy setting for the game. There's not a lot of humour (as you'd usually find in these games) and the story and characters can be quite dark. The other thing is the appearance of the game: everything is beautifully drawn and rendered in a very realistic traditional manner. I don't think I've ever seen a game in this genre which has been done in this style and it's very impressive and beautiful to behold. Every scene, object and character looks like a gorgeous, detailed oil painting. This helps to support and emphasise the overall realistic/serious tone of the game. But the beautiful digital painting comes at a cost: such images are difficult and time-consuming to animate properly, so often the animation is very weak/poor, almost like a slow slideshow.

Overall I thought the puzzles were really good. Not too easy, not too hard. I found that I had to think but I was never hopelessly stuck and I didn't need to google for answers at any point. The puzzles were intuitive, creative and fun.

The story was engaging, entertaining and it's what kept me coming back and continuing the adventure: I needed to know what would happen next to these characters. My only complaint is that the world doesn't seem particularly fleshed-out. Often fantasy games have a really deep lore and you can feel the life in the world, you hear about wars, other continents or events, or the rich history. In this game however at times it felt a bit like "arbitrary stock fantasy setting" with a few groan-inducing predictable fantasy plot devices. My biggest complaint is probably the main character, a young peasant boy called "Geron" who is about as interesting as a soggy paper towel. He looks kind of boring and standard, and he doesn't have much personality or much of a sense of humour, nothing really memorable about him.

Anyway I feel like I've just complained about this game for the entire review, however I did actually quite enjoy the game. It was a bit like eating a peanut butter sandwich. I'm not going to get excited about it or anything but it was still overall wholesome and satisfying. I think overall the game is just really gorgeous to look at, all the environments and places. There's a lot of attention to detail in the art and the sound that, despite the flaws, it actually creates a really immersive atmosphere, and it was really calming and delightful to play and to explore. Apparently the sequel (called Memoria) is much better, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they improved on the formula.

Nintendo Switch Review

I love doing blind playthroughs; when you know literally nothing about what you are just going to experience. It's full of excitement and expectations! That was the case with this game. Got it on sale for like $1.99 on Switch, and I tried it out. I didn't even know it was a point and click game. Nothing wrong about that, by the way!

The story is set in a fantasy world with kings, peasants, scholars, crazy crows and fairies. I won't give any details, just that you play as an average young man who does have a knack for breaking things (a curse according to some people), and you end up having to save the day! (everything involving fairies and crows). I did enjoy the setting and the progression of the story, The characters were memorable, with sarcastic comments here and there, especially when you tried to use certain items that didn't make sense. Well, this is not a comedy game at all, but sarcasm in these dark scenarios is always a welcomed gesture for me. The game did drag a little bit by the end, although I think it felt like that because of other issues that I will now point out.

The game is meant to be played on PC. I am almost certain it will be easier than trying to interact with items using the Switch's Joy-cons in that small screen. I played the whole thing on the Switch without using the dock. It was hard to move around picking up items. Also, sometimes the text was too small.

Now, what really bothered me is that the game got ridiculously hard in the last third of the game. It is impossible to do the puzzles on your own, unless you have the imagination of a fairy. Seriously, I had to use a guide for almost everything after that point. I know I am not really good at puzzles and figuring out things, but having to try out every single item in every situation in order to progress was not fun at all. The game needs some kind of hint system.

Putting aside the crazy puzzles and clumsy controllers on the Switch, the game does present really good music and voice acting. The chosen art style complements the dark atmosphere very well.

I would still recommend the game if you have the patience and if you enjoy dark fantasy settings. I would recommend trying the PC version instead, to save you from the Joy-Cons. I will try the very first game of this series, The Realms of Arkania, just because I found the setting interesting enough to check out more of the lore of this universe.