A few centuries in the future and we’ve got terraforming biome bases on the moon.  Well, I’m assuming it’s the moon, they call it “Luna” in the game so it could be a moon on another fictional planet.  Anyway, in Relicta you play as a scientist on one of these bases, and she’s testing a new pair of gloves that have the power to manipulate gravity and magnetism on nearby objects.  When her daughter comes to visit and a freak accident puts her and other members of the crew in danger, it’s up to the scientist to use the special gloves to solve puzzles to save the day.  Relicta is a 3-D first person puzzler available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

You view the action in a first person perspective, and can see both gloved hands at all times, as well as a reticule in the center of the screen.  You’ll move around with the L stick, and point in the direction you want to face with the R stick.  Explore the many doors and shuttles in the space station to find your next destination, which is usually a biome where you’ll solve a few puzzles.  These biomes replicate natural settings like forests, snowy mountains, etc.  The puzzles you’ll solve involve picking up blocks with the anti-gravity gloves, and placing them on switches so you can open force fields to move onto the next puzzle.  Sometimes you can place blocks on stations and be able to teleport them to other locations.  Aside from picking up boxes, you can press the L and R trigger buttons to change the blocks’ polarity, and the L and R shoulder buttons will cause the blocks to not be affected by gravity.  You’ll use all these skills in tandem to do things like repel blocks and send them far away without friction getting in the way.  It’s a bit like Portal, except without the witty humor and storytelling.

The graphics in the game are amazing, but then, I don’t play too many realistic looking games, but mostly cartoony ones, so maybe the visuals aren’t as good as what I think they are.  But I do think they look great.  Only problem is the difficulty ramps up super quick, and there is no hint system or anything.  They give you some instructions on how things work, but there are some things I think they could’ve done better explaining.  Like they tell you that blocks are red or blue depending on their magnetic polarity, but they don’t tell you that the center of the blocks spin around when set with anti-gravity, nor do they tell you the blocks revert their status when you pick them up.  It’s not a bad game, it’s just that the difficulty spike kept me from staying interested.  But if you like Portal style puzzlers and want more of a challenge, you may want to check this one out.

Kid Factor:

Relicta is rated M for Mature with ESRB descriptors of Drug Reference and Strong Language.  I didn’t really notice any drug references, but boy these scientists in the game talk like sailors!  They toss the f-bomb around every other sentence!  I know that when you are out in space and in danger, you’re not going to say, “Oh golly gee wilikers, I’m running out of oxygen and that shucky-darn asteroid is going to hit us!”  But I think all that cursing in the game is really unnecessary.  If they cut it out of the game, I bet it would’ve gotten a lower ESRB rating.  I just don’t like it when people curse a lot.  Because of this and the high challenge level, this game is best for older players.  It definitely has a more “mature PC game” feel to it.  I bet it would make a good VR title, too.

Tags: Game Reviews