Piranesi

I reread Piranesi for my Resurrected Reviews Revisited podcast:

Podcast episode - https://stillloveit.libsyn.com/episode-77-rrr-piranesi
Blog transcript - https://alobear.co.uk/?p=1471

The Wild Eternal

Dave and I played through The Wild Eternal together over the last few days - and it was pretty weird.

It's a computer game where you play an old woman who is trying to escape from the cycle of rebirth and die forever...

You wander through misty, confusing and sometimes dangerous landscapes, occasionally having cryptic conversations with a fox...

You have to collect objects called Aum's Tears in order to open the doors to each new realm, and it seemed like it was largely chance whether we happened to come across them or not. Though, always when I was just about ready to give up out of sheer boredom, we would discover a new location and managed to make progress.

Some of the game is really pretty, some of it is a bit terrifying, and it's all very nebulous and strange - especially the ending, which came almost out of nowhere and, while it was very much in keeping with the rest of the game, I'm not sure I was particularly satisfied with it.

Still, it felt good every time we finally managed to achieve something, even if overall the whole thing was a bit too vague and tedious for me.

Botany Manor

In Botany Manor, you play a woman with a frankly gorgeous manor house and very extensive and beautiful gardens, who has a fervent interest in botany.

The game involves wandering around the house and grounds, finding lots of different seeds and many (many) different clues as to how to grow plants from them. You have to figure out which clues go with with seeds, and then solve a puzzle to successfully cultivate each plant.

I have to admit there was maybe a little bit too much wandering about - and the fact that you have to revisit the exact location of each clue to be reminded of its details got a little wearing.

However, given that I'm generally terrible at solving puzzles - this game was pitched at pretty much precisely the right level for me - and I solved *nearly* all of them without any help! There were a couple of details I needed to look up but, for the most part, I was exceedingly proud of myself for working a lot of it out on my own.

Which presumably means most people would find it disappointingly simple.

But hey - I really enjoyed it - and the post-credits scene was absolutely brilliant.