Relicta offers quality though derivative puzzles (they're nothing you haven't already more or less seen in the likes of Talos Principle or Magrunner: Dark Pulse): polarize or alter the gravity of cubes so they attract or repel each other, in order to reach buttons that shut down forcefields, or ride a zero-G cube up a shaft while using polarity points to steer your flight path, it's that kind of thing. It's clever stuff, though unfortunately hindered by a considerable amount of RNG: while a degree of randomness is usually to be expected from physics-based puzzles, this game crossed the line into pure frustration when you realize you are doing the right thing but your cubes were just a couple pixels too far to the side, denying the intended result by not floating in the very specific direction required, or brushing against a piece of scenery, forcing you to try again. It doesn't help that many times you will be required to avoid snapping your cube to a polarity pad, rather to approximatively angle it to loosely be influenced by a polarity field, which, combined with the absolute precision required in spots, adds too many variables for its own good.
There are also several instances in which a glitch or a cube getting stuck in an unreachable place will force a restart of an entire map, which can mean throwing upwards to a half hour or more of progress in the bin. The game does a decent enough job to avoid this most of the time, but there are definitely areas that were overlooked in that regard. It also does a really poor job of following its own rules (all barriers have invisible walls over them to prevent them being jumped over, until they suddenty don't) and explaining new mechanics as they are introduced, leaving the player stranded for a long time until they finally notice the new element that the game neglected to point out. A perfect example is how for many hours the game uses drones with depolarizing fields that can't be turned off... until they can (the difference between the two types being a barely noticeable colored stripe), and the room that explains this was placed after a complex puzzle that requires that knowledge. The same goes for when moving platforms sneakily start to have polarized points underneath them after hours of not having them.
However, what really sets Relicta apart in a negative way from other similar games in this genre is the story, both in how abundant and how annoying it is. Aside from the "women good, men bad" slant of the entire thing, which is down to personal preference and might be more palatable to those who welcome the intrusion of such commentary in their puzzle game, the writing and the voice acting are absolutely subpar: it's hard to pin whether it's due to plain acting incompetence or the British-Indian accents of most actors not being particularly conducive to expressiveness, but every line comes off as sounding absolutely flat and monotone, regardless of urgency or state of mind. It doesn't matter whether the three main women are arguing, planning, exchanging mother-daughter dialogue, spouting passive aggressive venom at each other or attempting a (painfully unfunny) humorous quip, they always sound almost exactly the same, and that is like a mildly irritated person trying to speak to a manager at a clothing store. You will always walk into a new area and be subjected to a minute or more of lame banter while you're trying to think about the puzzles.
Thankfully the cutscenes are all skippable and you can always turn voice volume down to zero to never hear any of the in-game dialogue in order to experience the puzzles with minimal interruption. It's a shame that even these, quality as they are, aren't quite up to snuff with other similar games due to the erraticness of the physics model.
It's still well worth playing for fans of the genre, and there is a lot of content on offer, since the base game is easily 12 to 15 hours long and as of writing this comes with two sizeable free DLC packs amounting to about 5 or 6 extra hours of play time (and, sadly, story) but the frustration factor of getting stuck through no fault of your own can be a deal breaker for many.
There are also several instances in which a glitch or a cube getting stuck in an unreachable place will force a restart of an entire map, which can mean throwing upwards to a half hour or more of progress in the bin. The game does a decent enough job to avoid this most of the time, but there are definitely areas that were overlooked in that regard. It also does a really poor job of following its own rules (all barriers have invisible walls over them to prevent them being jumped over, until they suddenty don't) and explaining new mechanics as they are introduced, leaving the player stranded for a long time until they finally notice the new element that the game neglected to point out. A perfect example is how for many hours the game uses drones with depolarizing fields that can't be turned off... until they can (the difference between the two types being a barely noticeable colored stripe), and the room that explains this was placed after a complex puzzle that requires that knowledge. The same goes for when moving platforms sneakily start to have polarized points underneath them after hours of not having them.
However, what really sets Relicta apart in a negative way from other similar games in this genre is the story, both in how abundant and how annoying it is. Aside from the "women good, men bad" slant of the entire thing, which is down to personal preference and might be more palatable to those who welcome the intrusion of such commentary in their puzzle game, the writing and the voice acting are absolutely subpar: it's hard to pin whether it's due to plain acting incompetence or the British-Indian accents of most actors not being particularly conducive to expressiveness, but every line comes off as sounding absolutely flat and monotone, regardless of urgency or state of mind. It doesn't matter whether the three main women are arguing, planning, exchanging mother-daughter dialogue, spouting passive aggressive venom at each other or attempting a (painfully unfunny) humorous quip, they always sound almost exactly the same, and that is like a mildly irritated person trying to speak to a manager at a clothing store. You will always walk into a new area and be subjected to a minute or more of lame banter while you're trying to think about the puzzles.
Thankfully the cutscenes are all skippable and you can always turn voice volume down to zero to never hear any of the in-game dialogue in order to experience the puzzles with minimal interruption. It's a shame that even these, quality as they are, aren't quite up to snuff with other similar games due to the erraticness of the physics model.
It's still well worth playing for fans of the genre, and there is a lot of content on offer, since the base game is easily 12 to 15 hours long and as of writing this comes with two sizeable free DLC packs amounting to about 5 or 6 extra hours of play time (and, sadly, story) but the frustration factor of getting stuck through no fault of your own can be a deal breaker for many.