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Sacred Reviews: Cold Rest




Introduction

Cold Rest was created by CrystalCreation using RPG Maker VX Ace. The game is a simple puzzle game that involves solving ice sliding puzzles. The game includes a few gimmicks to change things up in the later stages, but even if you approach the game with a largely brute-force method of puzzle solving like I usually do you'll probably beat the game in under two hours. Though, before I move onto the next section of this review I'd like to point out that this review is a bit dated since the game has been updated since my Let's Play to include a new map feature to help the player plan out a route to victory since many of the puzzles in this game span several screens. Though, because of my own lazy nature it will be beyond the scope of this review to assess the quality of that mapping system.

Story

To say that the story in this game is minimal is an understatement in my opinion. The game doesn't include any dialogue and only features an ending cut scene. Outside of that your only clues about the nature of the narrative is based on a few descriptions of your possessions which includes an extremely short list of your regrets. Though, I guess it is fitting that a puzzle game has a story at the center of it that is a mystery that needs to be solved based on a few visuals and flavor text.

Gameplay

As stated previously all of the puzzles in this game involve sliding around on ice until you hit a wall or other object in order to change your direction. While the game does amp up in terms of difficulty as you advance and does change things up a bit with a few gimmicks. I can't help but a feel a bit disappointed at the fact that this puzzle game doesn't include any other kind of puzzles. I guess you could call that an unreasonable expectation since many games rely on the same basic mechanic to build an entire game around so there is no reason for why a puzzle game couldn't be built exclusively around puzzles where you slide around on ice. As such I won't hold this against the game, but if you are looking for a game with some real variety to its puzzles then this isn't the game for you.

On the plus side if you really like puzzles where you slide around on the ice the game does include a few gimmicks to amp up the difficulty in a few stages such as places in the ice where if you slide over them twice you'll find yourself in a watery grave. The game also includes a few puzzles where you'll need to shatter an ice block or two in order to open up the proper path to victory.

Graphics

Graphically speaking the game is rather minimal for the most part especially when it comes to the puzzle stages. As such you could easily argue that the game is trying to sell itself on the simplistic charm of its puzzles and that an emphasis on visual flair would detract from that. On the other hand I can't help but feel like the game is rather lacking in terms of visual stimuli since you'll spend the bulk of your time looking at ice, rocks, and giant ice cubes for the better part of two hours. I'm not saying that the game should sacrifice its simplistic charm and emphasis on being mentally stimulating. I'm just saying that adding some more snow capped trees and bushes around the puzzle stages might make the game a bit more visually appealing.

Sound

In terms of background music the game is a bit weak in my opinion; since I actually had to sit down and watch chunks of my own let's play just to remind myself if this game had music. Though to be fair, I tend to have a terrible memory when it comes to background tracks and will usually only remember them if they truly appeal to me on a personal level or if the music is used in ways it clearly shouldn't have been.

Conclusion

At the end of the day Cold Rest is a puzzle game that while mentally stimulating isn't that interesting in my opinion unless your a die hard fan of ice sliding puzzles. As such I'd be hard pressed to recommend this game to anyone that wasn't a fan of that type of puzzle. While the game does include a few gimmicks to change things up a bit. It doesn't change the underlying nature of the game nor does it truly appeal to me since I'm not a big fan of puzzle games in the first place. In fact, the most interesting aspect of this game for me is trying to craft theories about what the narrative behind this game actually is. Regardless of my own personal preferences though this game does feature some well designed puzzles that forced me to give up my usual style of brute forcing my way through the game and required me to put on my thinking cap and that is always a good thing.