There were about a billion opportunities that could've made this more than just mediocre, and maybe it's just a sign of its release date.
The island itself with its techno-mystic charm reminded me of Physicus but in a similar fashion was slowed down by convoluted paths and constant pacing between locations. The puzzles are mostly good and environmental, but brought down by three factors: purpose, usability and recovery.
It is only natural for puzzles to gradually unlock the world, but it can be done in vastly different ways. Quern often uses the most obvious way: keys and even more egregious, parts of keys. And that just doesn't feel good after a while, there needs to be a purpose beyond getting access to another facility that also makes keys.
Most puzzles make sense, but the later parts often switch to environment-unrelated minigames which can be terrible to solve - if I see another gamedev use the inversion puzzle (light up all points using four buttons that invert random patterns) I will explode. And these are then often chained together and/or completely overengineered, pressing a lot of buttons and levers for simple things.
The puzzles are usually organized in linear paths and concentrated in the same room, but trouble starts if they're scattered about for no reason and even worse if you happen to miss something, as there's no joy in running around on the island and you don't even know what you could have missed.
This is not helped by the generally grey and dull appearance, it's extremely monotone and the aesthetics serve no purpose - the whole game could've been in a sci-fi setting and would work the exact same way. And while it's clear that the puzzles are environment-related and varied to make this an adventure, the narrative is lacking too, resulting in random exposition towards the end and, of course, le epic final choice!!!
Overall, it's not that bad; it's just arbitrary and feels like playing an adventure version of Far Cry. Just play Aporia instead (it only came a year later and despite a more lacking narrative, has a way better puzzle-world interaction).
The island itself with its techno-mystic charm reminded me of Physicus but in a similar fashion was slowed down by convoluted paths and constant pacing between locations. The puzzles are mostly good and environmental, but brought down by three factors: purpose, usability and recovery.
It is only natural for puzzles to gradually unlock the world, but it can be done in vastly different ways. Quern often uses the most obvious way: keys and even more egregious, parts of keys. And that just doesn't feel good after a while, there needs to be a purpose beyond getting access to another facility that also makes keys.
Most puzzles make sense, but the later parts often switch to environment-unrelated minigames which can be terrible to solve - if I see another gamedev use the inversion puzzle (light up all points using four buttons that invert random patterns) I will explode. And these are then often chained together and/or completely overengineered, pressing a lot of buttons and levers for simple things.
The puzzles are usually organized in linear paths and concentrated in the same room, but trouble starts if they're scattered about for no reason and even worse if you happen to miss something, as there's no joy in running around on the island and you don't even know what you could have missed.
This is not helped by the generally grey and dull appearance, it's extremely monotone and the aesthetics serve no purpose - the whole game could've been in a sci-fi setting and would work the exact same way. And while it's clear that the puzzles are environment-related and varied to make this an adventure, the narrative is lacking too, resulting in random exposition towards the end and, of course, le epic final choice!!!
Overall, it's not that bad; it's just arbitrary and feels like playing an adventure version of Far Cry. Just play Aporia instead (it only came a year later and despite a more lacking narrative, has a way better puzzle-world interaction).