Dimhaven - The Lost Source

Awesome puzzle design with a great photo/note system.

Great game, the puzzles are good, there are some that are a bit of work to get the answer than actually figure out how the puzzle works. Took me around 20 hours to finish without consulting websites for answers. (I did spend 2.5 hours in the beach in the demo and because the demo save doesn't carry over to full game I had to redo it in this so add 2.5 hours to my total play time).

So the game is a lot of fun, I very much enjoy the art direction of it, feels like going back in time a bit with a good modern twist visually. Quern granted was more my pace, I for one very much struggled with a good chunk of puzzles... coming close but not close enough. I think I wish some puzzles had an easier time leading to things like exactly matching up with such and such symbols or maybe some clearer world given hints. But that said, for many that will likely play this game, they wont struggle like I did, some folks brains just can pick up on information easier then others. All that said, the game is a lot of fun still, made me feel pretty dumb, but fun is fun and that is what tends to be important.

good

Great game. Zadbox, please just build upon this game for your next! The style, the music, the systems like being able to take a photo and scribble on it and hold it, it's all almost perfect and I would love to see this sort of interactivity continue for your next one. I found myself interested in the world, I want to know more. I wish it was longer! I think this game sets up something that could really be iterated and mastered for the next one. I liked Quern, but this was a huge step up and felt more immersive. I will say I think the first section was best designed. The beach puzzles felt the most like I was in the world figuring out how to progress, whereas the next sections kinda felt like escape room "This Is Clearly A Puzzle" puzzles, one leading to the next. If that makes any sense. Not all of them felt that way, and I still greatly enjoyed all the puzzles. Highly recommend!

This is a game I want to wholeheartedly recommend, the visual style, the setpieces, and the photo mechanic is just amazing. It's something I'd love to have in so many puzzle games and made it so I didn't need external notes save for two spots. It's fantastic, and the atmosphere, lighting, and small interactables in the world was an instant sell to me. For the bad though, it feels like there was a lot on the chopping block here. A fair few reviewers point out the first level in the demo is the most refined part of the game- and it looks like it's largely the same as a kickstarter demo from two years ago. I feel as though a sizable portion of what the developers wanted to do had to be cut and things happened behind the scenes. Where that leaves us is about three maps to explore and puzzle through, and a plot that feels like right when its about to hit a peak, ends rather abruptly. There's a few deadend spots that feel like they got blocked off to cut out, [spoiler] a whole civilization that we never see more than the barest glimpse of, despite monumental ruins like a great wall visible from anywhere on the island still surviving [/spoiler], [spoiler] posters for missing people t…