The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav Review (PS4)

When you think of a medieval setting in videogames you expect to see RPGs, strategy games, or maybe even an action-adventure title, but a classic point and click adventure is quite at the end of the list of possible choices. Still, Daedalic Entertainment, who are renowned for building some memorable adventure games, chose this theme for Chains of Satinav. Unfortunately, the meeting point of the mundane human world and the magic fairy realm already had quite a few cracks, that were made even more obvious by the passing of time.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of Chains of Satinav that were recently released are based on a game that is almost 8 years old. Unlike with a good wine, the passing of time did not favor this point and click adventure game, the original issues still being present. Moreover, the graphics feel dusty and outdated, despite the unique visual style that ranges from the detailed background and immersive scenes to characters that feel as lifelike as a dead fish. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves with a verdict and let’s see what you can expect if you are a fan of point and click games.

The hero of the game is a young bird-catcher, who lives the not quite pleasant life of a commoner in the magical land of Andergast. His misery is amplified by an omen that befell him in his childhood: a powerful mage, while being burnt at stake, predicted that the young kid will bring doom to the entire kingdom. Now the prophecy seems to be on its way to become reality since the dark signs multiply along with murders of crows that invade and torture the city. To stop the mystical and evil Seer, young Geron gets involved with the dark past of his master and embarks on a mission to capture a fairy, that turns into an odyssey that takes our hero beyond the veil of the human realm.

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The story while not the worst is definitely far from being a masterpiece. There are quite a few loopholes in it, and despite the central theme being challenging fate, you never feel like you have any choice. You just try to deal with the waves of fate that engulf Geron and carry him against his will. The very few moments when you could make a difference prove to be an illusion since the developers hid the very same outcome behind the possible dialogue choices in order to further the story. The result is some very predictable turns of events and a story that almost fails to keep you engaged with the game.

The atmosphere is created instead of the story, by the visual style of the game, which is quite charming, thanks to the hand-drawn backgrounds that manage to conjure a dark atmosphere. However, the magic is broken by the characters and their behavior. In most cases, the NPCs, and even our hero, seem more like a child’s doodle. Especially during the dialogues they see utterly lifeless and fail to convey any emotion. The passing of time made this issue even more obvious than it was when the game was first released. Despite the graphical makeover applied to the game by the developers hoping to make it passable in modern days, Chains of Satinav feels and looks a bit dusty, especially if you play on a 4K display.

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You cannot feel any empathy for any of the characters, due to their lack of personality. Geron feels more like talking, walking husk rather than an actual person caught in the whims of fate. Even in the most dramatic moments, a dead fish would have had more warmth and charm than our hero. Things are not improved by the voiceover, which often is quite amateurish, or the slow pace of our hero. Since the gameplay relies only on point & click mechanics, the slow pace of Geron traversing the screen to get to different items quickly becomes quite annoying.

Your patience will also be tested by the locations and items that are not actually useful. The surroundings contain a lot of decorum that is there just to build up the atmosphere but actually accomplishes nothing else than make you waste your time. Due to useless elements, the small scenes feel even more limited. To make things worse the developers chose to walk players around quite a bit in order to solve the riddles and puzzles. Fortunately, these get better as you advance through the game, and especially in the fairyland, you will meet some challenges that will put to the test your problem-solving skills. Still, the many useless interactive objects will often add unnecessary frustration.

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The Good

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