NAIRI: Rising Tide | PC Review

February 5, 2025 Tomas Becks

In 2018, fledgling studio HomeBearStudio released their first game called Nairi: Tower of Shirin. It’s a point and click adventure game that takes place in an Arabian Nights-esque land where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side by side. The story is about a girl called Nairi, whose parents get taken into custody by the royal guard. Nairi has to flee the city of Shirin with her best friend Rex and also find a way to free her parents. Adventures ensue and the couple have to heed danger and learn about the conspiracy that is going on as well as the deep history of the city. Along the way they meet new friends, make new enemies, and discover a lot about themselves and the world they live in. It was a great ride and it ended on a cliffhanger!

Tower of Shirin

I was the lucky one who got to review the game (which you can find here). I was a bit sceptical because the cutesy characters and cartoony environment is usually not really my cup of tea. I’m very glad I took it on, though, because this game is a true gem! Behind the cute characters there is a deep and mature story that really draws you in and goes in dangerous and unexpected ways. The story ends on a cliffhanger, so I was dying to play the sequel to see how the story would continue.

Chapter 2

Fast forward to six years later and I finally get to play part 2 of the story! This time, I jumped at the opportunity to review the new Nairi game. This chapter is called Rising Tide, which is the in-game name for a rebel movement in the city of Shirin that Nairi and her friends have to deal with while they traverse the middle part of the city of Shirin. This area may seem quite civilized, but danger lurks around every corner, as assassins and other evil-doers are chasing her to make sure she doesn’t find out more about the mysteries and conspiracies that abound in the city. But wherever there is evil, there are also good people and Nairi is quick to make new friends and even turn old enemies into allies.

Point and Click Novel

The Nairi games are an almost perfect cross between a point and click adventure game and a visual novel. For the sequel, HomeBearStudio added a few flourishes that added to the gameplay. Collections were already part of the first game, but in the sequel they included artwork you can find around the city and statuettes you can buy with the coins that are hidden in almost every scene. This adds a nice element to an already good game. The graphics are in the same style but look fuller, and the controls feel a little smoother. It makes for a pleasant experience.

Riven Rising

However, there are two portions of the story where the game kind of changes. I won’t spoil how Nairi gets into the situation but there are two sections of the game that are more like Myst and Riven than a point and click visual novel. These areas are filled with mystery, lore, secrets and loads of puzzles. I know I am known as the adventure game aficionado, but the Myst genre I was never really fond of. Luckily, the developers added the option to skip these sections, so if you really don’t want to go through all the puzzles, then you can opt to just completely ignore it. I decided not to, because I wanted to experience the whole story and all the lore. That did mean that I consulted a walkthrough but I’m sure there are many people who will love the thrill and challenge of these areas.

Conclusion

I think by now it is clear that I have fallen completely in love with these games and this world. It was well worth the 6 year wait to play this sequel, but I do hope that we won’t have to wait 6 more years to play the next part. It is clear that there has to be at least one more installment where we can help Nairi and her friends reach their goal and hopefully free Nairi’s parents, maybe even topple the corrupt leaders of the city. And I will be in front of the line to pick up the game and review it.

To hear me talk more about NAIRI: Rising Tide, be sure to listen to the December 12, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 01:39:06 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC copy of NAIRI: Rising Tide provided by PR Hound for coverage purposes. It is also available on Nintendo Switch.