Inua - A Story in Ice and Time

[H1]Inua - A Story in Ice and Time[/h1][hr][/hr] 2-3 hours to complete, Inua is a fun narrative game that follows three protagonists across three different periods of time, while you engage in a bit of time manipulation to share realizations and ideas between them to change the course of history. The story is centered around the real life disappearance of The Terror and The Erebus on the famously doomed Arctic exploration around 1846. While the wrecks were officially rediscovered in 2016 and 2014, the Inuit had known their locations through oral history since they interacted with survivors, and have shared it with British and Canadian search teams but were ignored essentially delaying their discovery for about 170 years. It’s a bit of interesting real life history to read up on, but I really loved how the developers made a video game out of it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3774067160 Overall, I really enjoyed Inua not just because of the fun spin on a cautionary tale, but because I appreciated how the developers were authentic with the music and the art, using Inuit artists as well as voice actors and even an author to share this story. The only downsid…

[h3]Some things are better left Hidden[/h3] Beautifully rendered dioramas, in a simplistic 3D style with interactive objects and tokens to find which progress the story. A story ultimately of 3 people with different origin stories, different times and completely different demons chasing them their entire lives. But who will die? [h3]Fire and Ice[/h3] The story starts quite narrow in focus, at the beginning with a mutiny. And in a way it's a mutiny born out of fear that drives these 3 people to uncover the unknown for personal betterment. But at what price. A theme of nature versus man runs through the entire story. As does one of man versus man in tribes and later in nations, at war. I just loved how the story plays on all the flaws of each character, so heavily that you get to know all 3 quite well. There is continuously a monster without as well as within, us all. I would happily have dived deeper into each character if time allowed, but each diorama must have been quite hard work to create, so things must end. [h3]Mechanics[/h3] The game mechanics are quite simple, you must switch timelines, and find items in each timeline which effect other timelines. One puzzle requires yo…

Very beautiful and meaningful narrative experience!

[u]English version below[/u] Dieses Spiel war wirklich ein fantastisches Erlebnis! Es gab zwar nicht viel "Gameplay", aber das war (meinem Empfinden nach) auch gar nicht nötig, da die Interaktion mit den Gedanken und Gegenständen das ganzen interessant genug gestaltet haben und die Story im Fokus steht. Die Vertonung fand ich sehr gelungen, auch wenn es hier und da Unterschiede bei der Tonqualität gab, nichts gravierendes aber doch bei manchen Sprechern hörbar. Die Story war fantastisch, auch wenn das Ende recht "kurz" war, was aber Spielraum für Interpretationen zulässt und das hatte definitiv etwas für sich. Auch den Verlauf der Story war sehr gut inszeniert, besonders die charakterlichen Veränderungen der Protagonisten (ohne hier zu spoilern). Auch die düsteren Untertöne, was die Behandlung der Inuit seitens der "Entdecker" und derer die nach ihnen kamen über die Jahrhunderte anging fand ich gelungen eingestreut, da sich dies auch in den Veränderungen der Protagonisten widerspiegelte und ihrem Verhalten den anderen Charakteren gegenüber. Was aber natürlich nicht unerwähnt bleiben darf ist die Musik, ich glaube passender ging es nicht und ich habe an manchen Stellen im Spiel pa…

An interesting story about the intertwined fates of three people throughout history, leading each to a singular obsession to a location deep in the wilds of Canada. An interesting take of Canada's local history with Inuit story telling, giving us a view of the local culture and interaction between westerners and the Inuit and how such has consequences on the land and its myth. The art style is told in a minimalist water colour palette which is quite pleasing, the dialogue is also well done by the cast, with a toned background music. Gameplay wise it's quite linear more like a point and click progressive narrative, not much of a gameplay mechanics with exception of tying down symbols from objects to generate dialogue among the narrators. The gameplay is also quite short, which can be completed within several hours and no fail state than would impede your completion. If you like some local history, minor detective work and a narrative adventure with the rare Canadian focused subject matter, this would be a good short game to play in between longer games.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I found this game by chance while browsing Steam. I was just looking around, and then the trailers hooked me. I don't regret buying it. This game feels like [b]a reflection of ourselves[/b]. It made me think about how we can become too confident in our ability to understand and control things we don't truly know. A clear and noble goal can become distorted when we cross boundaries, especially when we want to achieve something we don't truly understand. I really love the art style, the atmosphere, the narration, and especially the [b]full voice acting[/b]. Even some AAA games don't have full voiceover, so hearing the characters talk throughout the game made me feel much more immersed in the story. I especially loved the voices and tones of the Inuit characters. I later found out that the developers cast actual Inuit people to voice the characters, which I really loved. The spiritual connection to nature reminded me a lot of [i]Brother Bear[/i], which I personally loved. I finished the game and found myself still thinking about it afterward. [I]Inua[/i] is a beautiful and meaningful experience, and I'm glad I bought it. If you like beautiful art, atmospheric storytelling, m…