Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom | PC Review

I’ve had a run of puzzle games lately. I think it started with Viewfinder last year. That game made my top 10 of the year and I found myself seeking out new opportunities to try different puzzle games. When Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom was available, I was happy to try another one. My excitement built as I wondered if this one would be unique. Would the puzzles be strategy based? Would it require a learned gaming skill such as my joyful surprise playing Paper Trail? I was happy that I was not disappointed as I played Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom even if the game had its glaring hiccups.

Story

Aarik is the son of a King. The King has fallen ill, the Queen has disappeared, and the kingdom is falling apart. It’s up to a young boy, who might be 10 years old, to save the kingdom! Aarik puts on the king’s crown to find that he can manipulate some objects and control the perspective of the worlds around him. Later in the game, he can also control time! There is perhaps two minutes of opening story before you are thrown into your first puzzle. 

As Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom progresses, Aarik learns more about his parents and, thus, himself. However, the story is a minor aspect of this relatively short game. The nuts and bolts lie within the mechanics and the puzzles. This review is better served moving on to the next section.

Mechanics and Puzzles

The puzzles are largely perspective based. Your controls allow you to click on a spot within the limited path which tells Aarik to walk to that spot. You then use the keyboard or controller to move the Lakitu (Mario 64) style camera around Aarik to change the player’s view of the puzzle. This shift in angle might connect a path so that Aarik can travel to the next point of the puzzle. It might reveal an object that you need to move to a new location. It might reveal a collectible. The trick to these puzzles is that the perspective is different based on where Aarik is standing. You might not connect those paths if Aarik is standing somewhere else. It’s a unique challenge.

Other puzzles might include elevators with exits that open to different areas based on the placement of the camera view. It’s quite nifty the way perspective plays into every puzzle. I immediately jumped on my interpretation of the game and my own perception of the metaphor: Life can be different or even better if you look at it from a different point of view.

In the not-so-kind category, I played the full game but it was listed as being in Beta. There were still bugs. One early puzzle included a door that you had to walk to in order to move to the next puzzle. Instead of going through the door, Aarik walked into the open area of the screen, turned 90 degrees twice, as if on an invisible stairway, walked back across and off the left side of the screen. It was comical. I tried to make him turn around but he was gone forever. I had to exit and restart the level.

Other bugs were control based. Items that I was meant to pick up were randomly placed in areas that I could not click no matter what perspective I used. Sometimes, this placement is purposeful to make the player stand someplace else and try a new perspective. Sometimes, I felt like I was beating my head against the wall. Thankfully, the objects on some puzzles are procedurally generated. Restarting the level placed the object in a new location.

On the positive side of this problem, I love how Steam games in Beta mode include a “Report a Bug” option from the pause menu. As a player, having a direct link to help make the game better is a big plus in my book. (Even if it is just crowd-sourced Quality Assurance.)

Another gamer might find the puzzles easy. A lot of them are. But I came across a few stumpers, too. When the solution was finally found, I grumbled at what I thought was not an intuitive answer. The game does NOT hold your hand. No indicators to say, “Look over here, dude!” No option in the pause menu for hints. Somebody new to puzzle games will likely not enjoy their time with some of the puzzles. The more likely outcome is “give up and play a different game instead.” (Especially at the $8 price point, but more on that later.)

Visuals/Music

The graphics are whimsical. They are in the same style as the common Nintendo Switch game. Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom is certainly made by an independent developer or team. The backdrops are vague representations of the “worlds” that you must get through to save the kingdom. There are many different areas/worlds with their own sets of puzzles including Castle, Forest, Desert, Tundra, and others. The puzzles themselves are fine. I believe the developers thought that the player would be paying attention to the puzzle, not the scenery. So, they put their limited capacity and effort into the part of the game that truly matters. Those backgrounds really are sparse and simple, though. 

Playing the game is just as simple. Mouse clicks tell Aarik where to walk, and keyboard buttons control the camera. You can also change all controls to different keyboard settings, if desired. Drag-and-drop of objects and clicking on secrets that are revealed is the remainder of the control aspect of the game. As my previous reviews might indicate, I am a fan of simplicity. There aren’t any fancy control options that get introduced and then aren’t used for several hours; plenty of time for me to forget. 

I am a fan of acoustic music. Howl still comes to mind for a game with incredible acoustic guitar used splendidly, please read that review. Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom also utilizes some acoustic guitar. It’s not done playfully, in a lyre style, as one would assume in a medieval kingdom game. It’s pleasant and still fits the game perfectly. I mentioned that the game is independently made with limited resources. Yes, the music gets a little repetitive, but it’s so unobtrusive that I rarely noticed.

Final Verdict

Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom is a quick game, depending on how quickly you figure out the (for me) puzzles that were not intuitive. An $8 price point is inviting. If you enjoy the game, you’ll like it at that cost and jump for joy! If this is a game that is not for you, then it’s a small chip from your wallet as opposed to a AAA game at $60 or $70. My final thought here is that you will get exactly what you pay for: A quick puzzler that you will likely enjoy while using your brain and your eyes. Perspective puzzles are somewhat unique to me so this game was a pleasant option in a sea of puzzle games. Hopefully, those Beta bugs were ironed out in time for the June 20th release date. 

I enjoyed my time while playing it. I hope you have a chance to try it out and let me know how you felt! Did you notice that Aarik is almost an acronym for the name of the game? That literally just hit me. Nifty!

To hear me talk more about Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom, be sure to listen to the June 25, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 2:15:18 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC copy of Aarik and the Ruined Kingdom provided by Shatterproof Games for coverage purposes. As of the time of this writing, it is exclusive to this platform.