Nonetheless, this is still a good release, skillfully crafted with attention to detail. While a great game at heart, The Eyes of Ara has too many third-act issues for me to give a broad recommendation. It’s launching at $14.99, the same price as on Steam – no “Switch Tax”. Depending on your patience with the puzzles and desire to explore, several more hours could be added still. We clocked over 15 hours playing at a leisurely pace. Still, there’s no question The Eyes of Ara offers good value. It’s a cut corners move in a game that otherwise reflects a lot of time and care. Expect your inventory to be crowded with book entries, clues, and notes. More likely, it was done because it’s just easier to dump everything on the player rather than dole it out in a thoughtful fashion.
It’s possible the developer, knowing his game inside and out, did this in an attempt to make the game even more difficult. The incessant puzzles started to be solved, not so much by genre experience and observation, but more by a walkthrough. It makes the challenge develop into something less rewarding, more tedious.
“I found all of these clues, but where are the puzzles they go to?” and vice versa. Things become monotonous and unstimulating when you’re forced to backtrack, wandering the same areas over and over wondering what was missed. The game overwhelms the player with too much freedom and too little direction to accompany it. But near the end, the difficulty turns into a jarringly steep ramp. In the context of the game, having solved so many puzzles already, your character should be smart enough so that the challenge ramps gradually.
The Eyes of Ara loses its sense of balance partway through its final chapter. So for such a high-quality offering that impresses with its atmosphere, controls, settings, aesthetics, puzzles, and more, what’s my issue? It’s the frustration that stems from seeing this game start to crumble during its climax.
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