While it has technically been floating round Itch for some time, I’ve been sadly unaware of Annwn: The Otherworld till its Steam launch final evening. Quantum Soul have produced a spooky Celtic tackle intense 1986 stealth-puzzler The Sentinel, a components that (from my noodling round with its demo) nonetheless holds up after thirty-three years. Players management a spirit within the underworld, unable to maneuver, however in a position to drain vitality from bushes, then spend it on creating greater vantage factors to teleport to, aiming to finally destroy the watchful eye scanning the horizon for you.
It’s in all probability higher to simply attempt the demo than have me fumblingly attempt to clarify it, however you have got one aim in every of Annwn’s randomly generated ranges: Create greater vantage factors, climb excessive sufficient to see the sq. of land that The Watcher is standing on, and take up it as you’d a tree. In actuality, it is a tense game of cat-and-mouse and misdirection. The Watcher slowly rotating its spotlight-like imaginative and prescient throughout the land. If it spots a totem (whether or not or not you inhabit it), it’s going to destroy it, so it’s important to transfer quick and warp round to keep away from your current location being seen.
It looks like a great time for an additional studio to take a shot at sharpening up The Sentinel, and Annwn: The Otherworld’s weird setting and droning, ethereal audio helps ratchet up the strain. It’s not fairly as surreal and oppressive as Sentinel Returns and its John Carpenter soundtrack, nevertheless it comes shut. Unlike earlier variations of the game, absorbing life from bushes and warping to new vantage factors takes time in Annwn. There is a long run development system permitting you to carry extra vitality, take up and transfer sooner, nevertheless it solely makes a faint distinction within the demo, hinting at a regularly escalating tempo within the full game.
Annwn: The Otherworld is out now on Steam and Itch, together with a free demo. The full game prices £9.11/€9.99/$11.99.
