Quern was released for Xbox One on April 24, 2020. It makes me feel proper nostalgic, and I can’t knock it too hard on that account.Quern – Undying Thoughts is an adventure video game by Zadbox Entertainment. But even that impulse, grabbing a notepad and jotting down clues, feels reminiscent of the games that inspired Quern. I ended up grabbing a normal notepad and paper like it was 1994 again. Problem being the sketches are often not legible or high-resolution enough to be useful, only display four to a “page,” and each time you access them you’re treated to a two-second animation that kills the pacing. Quern then makes a cool little sketch-representation of whatever item you were looking at. You see something important, a clue to a puzzle, and you can “jot it down in your notebook” at the touch of a button. The game also includes a seemingly handy Notebook feature, which is supposed to function like in-game screenshots. There are a few other stinkers, but that one’s the worst. (Yes, it’s as boring as it sounds.) And you do it three times here. One puzzle is just a retread of the Knights of the Old Republic puzzle where you do a bunch of column math to blow up injector pods on Manaan. Some of its puzzles fall into the typical adventure game trap-very obvious solution buried under a cumbersome series of steps. Everyday objects, but all of it residing in a world so unique and unusual. It has the same sense of weary isolation, the same unexpected warmth to its grimy copper gizmos, and that feeling of “Normal” and “Alien” bashed together in one place. Those huts may represent the most obvious parallel, but the game reeks of Cyan’s mid-’90s output.

And it’s incredibly reminiscent of the bleached-white adobe buildings that dotted Riven’s Jungle Island: It’s your main hub and where you’ll spend a good portion of Quern. It’s as close to a Myst game as I’ve ever seen from another developer. His journal entries lead you from area to area, sometimes giving context, sometimes giving clues, and all apparently part of some plan. The island’s previous occupant has left behind directives, notes on the peculiar properties Quern possesses, the secrets he’s uncovered and what he’s done with said knowledge.

Along the way you’ll delve into the origins of the titular island, Quern.

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