First person adventure games were given a pretty early grave due to the long stretches of time between the good Myst-like games. Drawn takes many, many cues from those games just not all of the good parts. This game, however, separates itself from other adventure style games but implementing a breathtaking art style.
One thing that really works against Drawn is that the pacing is entirely wonky. Halfway through the game, puzzles start feel overly complicated and nearly unsolvable or just require entirely too many steps. Oddly, the game does include a “Solve Puzzle” button at the top of the screen that will simply skip these occurrences, but this pretty much also serves as a perfect way to completely ruin any immersion built up to that point.
This is really a tragedy as quite a few of the puzzles end up having really elegant solutions when solved. In these cases they use everything about the game, from the amazing art style to the ability to jump into paintings and play around with the world. When everything aligns, the puzzles feel rewarding and simply wonderful to look at, while some feel a little too cheap.
What really saves the game from all of its faults is the amazing art that dripped over every inch of the world. Although lacking overall movement and animation, the overall aesthetic feels immersive and welcoming. When there are animation, they are simply beautiful to look at.
Unfortunately, the game is very linear and with a world like this, the player is going to want to explore. Every now and then there will be a small puzzle off to the side that will need to be completed before the next area can be unlocked, but almost the entire game takes place in one straight line from where it starts, as if the character felt no need to explore this lush world that they exist in.
The game is fairly reasonably priced at 20 dollars. Buying this from the website nets the player the collector’s edition which seems to come with an extra quest after the game is finished. Even though this is pretty much the weakest part of the entire story, as it ends up being more of a seek and find than puzzle solving, it costs the same as the standard edition and has more content, so why not?
Drawn does much to invoke the spirit of Myst and manages to do it a whole lot better than most modern day ports of the original. Pacing faults aside, Drawn is a decent game worth a play through. The game is geared more towards children, but I was compelled to finish the entire story.
Not As Good As: Many modern adventure games
Also Try: Almost anything from Telltale
Wait For It: The fully 3D remake
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