Ayasa Shadows of Silence from Aya Video games is a side-scrolling puzzle platform journey recreation. It incorporates a darkish, creepy aesthetic, and from the trailers and visuals put out, it definitely appears to be like attention-grabbing.
Nevertheless, trying attention-grabbing shouldn’t be sufficient. Is the sport truly good? I spent fairly a little bit of time with Ayasa Shadows of Silence, so let’s dive proper into it!
Ayasa: Shadows of Silence – First Impressions
In Ayasa Shadows of Silence, gamers will tackle the position of an unnamed younger woman. The sport kicks off with a creepy cutscene showcasing a lifeless elephant, what appears to be a horde of humanoid monsters heading in direction of a metropolis after which an enormous explosion going off within the distance. You’ll then take management of the unnamed younger woman who wakes up in a forest, and off you go. The tutorial is extremely minimal, with a pop-up that simply tells you the controls, and that’s it.
Ayasa: Shadows of Silence jogged my memory of among the greats within the style, resembling Limbo, Little Nightmares and Stela. Sadly, that’s about the place the comparisons can cease.
Controls, Platforming and Early Frustrations
Throughout the first jiffy of taking part in the sport, I already felt like uninstalling it and by no means returning. The sport mentions urgent “R1” to push an object. I pressed R1, and nothing occurred. Solely after some random button urgent did I realise that they really meant L1 to push. Cool, that’s sorted.
I push the article to the tip of the trail, and I see that we’re supposed to make use of it to leap throughout a spot and attain a log to get throughout.
I’m not mendacity after I state that it took me a stable 20 minutes of trial and error attempting to do that. The bounce was subsequent to unimaginable due to the floaty, unresponsive controls. Making an attempt to manage the little woman to leap on the proper time to make the touchdown was so frustratingly troublesome.
Main Gameplay Points
This additionally leads me to three main points with the sport that made themselves prevalent proper from the get-go.
Lengthy Load Occasions After Demise
The primary being the truth that should you die, you can be handled to a stable 15 second load display. In a recreation that’s purported to be a survival journey platformer, dying is inevitable. Should you’re going to be dying usually, meaning you’ll be spending 15 seconds each single time, repeatedly, ready to load again in after dying.
This artificially inflates the sport time and likewise is extremely unhappy and disappointing in a world the place we now have NVMe and SSDs, and cargo instances are primarily a factor of the previous already in each indie and triple-A video games.
Unresponsive Controls
The second main gripe is that in case your recreation is a platformer, you’d greatest make it possible for your controls are responsive. You don’t need gamers to be frustratingly floundering round with iffy jumps and actions that have to be so exact; in any other case, you find yourself dying.
Lack of Steerage
The third main downside lies with the truth that there’s no actual steering on supply right here. I assumed after failing a couple of instances that perhaps I used to be lacking one thing further to make the bounce. Nevertheless, this wasn’t the case.
After I finally made the bounce, I truly burst out laughing at the truth that the log isn’t secure, but it surely instantly tilts and suggestions into the exact same crevice that I used to be falling into for the previous 20 minutes.
Efficiency Points and Enemy Encounters
After finally getting throughout, the sport then launched one other evident difficulty. Inexplicable freezing stuttery lag. I used to be already getting this intermittently through the leaping phase, but it surely actually kicked in much more as soon as I acquired throughout.
On this space, there’s an enemy that will get triggered by you strolling or operating near them, and it’s essential sneak previous. Nevertheless, the sneaking phase is so lengthy and compounded by the truth that I used to be already aggravated after spending so lengthy with the log phase, dying right here repeatedly to a large rat-like creature (that appears to run at an insanely excessive velocity) due to freezing/stuttery lag was simply actually placing the icing on the cake.
Total Impressions
In any case, I digress. I may in all probability write a complete 2-3 pages of the assorted issues with Ayasa Shadows of Silence, however the reality of the matter is, the builders have a variety of work to do with this recreation.
It truly makes me surprise in the event that they even performed their very own recreation? Getting by Ayasa Shadows of Silence is an train in sheer frustration. There’s simply a lot that wants work right here; it’s mind-boggling that this was launched as a full recreation and never as an “Early Entry” title, which is what it needs to be on this state.
In actual fact, it could be attention-grabbing for the builders to present entry to this recreation to a streamer and watch them attempt to play by it. They’ll see precisely how horrible it’s and the way it wants immense work to make it perform the best way it ought to.
Visuals, Ambiance and Soundtrack
The world of Ayasa: Shadows of Silence appears to be like nice and has an aesthetic that does draw you in, however the poor execution actually ruins every part. The sport could be a bit too darkish at instances, and it’s onerous to see the place to go or what to do. Some extra clues or altered environmental lighting are wanted right here.
If the builders can truly deal with all the problems with the sport, they could even have successful on their fingers, however solely time will inform.
The soundtrack in Ayasa: Shadows of Silence is sweet with orchestral piano heavy music that’s clearly meant to evoke an emotional response from gamers. Nevertheless, because of the sheer annoyance and the inexplicable freezing and different points, even an emotional environmental storytelling phase, resembling if you come throughout a lifeless elephant, fell utterly flat as a result of I used to be continuously simply worrying about what’s going to kill me subsequent or if the sport goes to freeze/stutter once more.
Ultimate Verdict
I can not with good conscience suggest Ayasa Shadows of Silence to gamers in any respect. The sport is actually a damaged, unplayable mess. If you wish to frustrate your self to no finish, then give this recreation a strive.
In any other case, decide up a traditional like Limbo or Little Nightmares 1 should you’re craving a side-scrolling puzzle platformer journey. Perhaps in 6 months or so, as soon as the issues are ironed out right here, Ayasa Shadows of Silence will probably be price taking part in. Proper now, although, you’ll simply upset your self by taking part in this recreation.
Ayasa Shadows of Silence Trailer
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The sport was offered to us for the specific objective of reviewing.
