Chiaro and the Elixir of Life

[h1]Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers[/h1] You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/2kK-Ezt0yTE This was a very tough call for me on whether to recommend or not. On the one hand, this game does a great job of world-building and you do feel like you're on this epic adventure in VR with interesting characters. On the other hand, this game is so full of bugs that it really takes away all the good feelings you might have had about this game. Whole game took me about 4 hours to finish, with all the bugs. Without the bugs, it probably really took me 2.5 to 3 hours at the most. The game is mostly about either puzzles or this throwing mechanic. The puzzles were pretty straightforward and not really a challenge. Usually, it was just object hunting or the use of simple logic. I found the throwing mechanic to be more challenging because you do have to be precise & sometimes quick as well (however, I was playing seated so that may have added to the difficulty). You do have full locomotion, smooth turning, seated, & comfort options as well as visuals & sound settings. The story is interesting, but I found it confusing as well. Without giving away spoilers…

The game seems to be quite buggy and the achievements don't work, but the story is great and the place is beautiful. So I still liked to play this game.

I wanted to like this game as it does appear to be interesting and the music really is nice but it doesn't feel like it's worth the $30 they're asking for it. Upon first playing I ran into one consistent bug, the sound for the cutscene wouldn't play. I had to open the Steam menu and then close it just to get it. The cutscene was also very strange being a movie played on a curved black wall that could oddly be moved around if you touched the touchpads. The controls seemed rather odd as well but that could just be Valve's attempts to integrate the WMR headset into their platform. Interacting with the world around you was especially strange. Around Chiaro's home were these frog-like slug creatures you could pick up. Tossing or dropping them they just went into this weird pose and remained like that. Carefully setting them down they immediately went back to sleep as if you weren't ever there. Assembling Boka as well didn't feel very interactive. Grab a part, carry it to the right spot and it "pops" into place with the accompanying popping sound. What killed it for me however was after assembling Boka the scene fades out to transition into day as you wake up. I had the nice surprise o…

Too short. Too expensive. Finished in 3.2hrs.

I didn't enjoy this because I found it really janky. Moving through stuff. Operating elevators and moving up and down whilst being a foot outside the elevator.

I had numerous technical issues with this game, which kept me from completing it. On several occasions, the game crashed after cutscenes, forcing me to rewatch them multiple times until it didn't crash. The worst bug was this one part where Boka jumps across a ravine, and doesn't quite make it. I failed to grab his hand in time on the first try, and subsequent restarts of the level he just jumps directly to the bottom of the ravine, with the same dialogue about helping him. After a dozen or so times, the scene did eventually play out correctly. But in the end, I reached a bugged cutscene that wouldn't work no matter how many times I watched it. And I had it.