Faraway: Director's Cut from developer Pine Studio is a first-person puzzle game that acts as a modern tribute to Myst. Out now with Linux support, it's actually a port of the very popular mobile version with several enhancements for the PC.
This is a puzzle game for players who enjoy a slight challenge but don't want to be taxed too much for the experience, as it's not particularly difficult. The puzzles are well designed though but they don't really take long to figure out. Like with Myst and other similar quiet puzzle experiences, it's all about the mystery of where you are and what's going on.
Definitely not one for the hard-core puzzle solvers amongst our readers, it's nothing close to the likes of Talos Principle or Portal but it does have a lot of charm going for it. Graphically pleasing, with a wonderful atmosphere that you can easily get absorbed into over 3 or so hours while you solve the various puzzles.
There is something resembling a story too with the mysterious desert "ruled by an ancient civilization" and it appears you're not the first to explore it. As you progress through, there's letters to find from someone else with voice-over giving you a small taste of what came before you. Secrets to find too, for those willing to explore everything.
Even without much in the way of difficulty, I still found it to be quite captivating and nicely calming. Worth a go.
You can buy Faraway: Director's Cut on Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Joking aside: Yes please! First-person puzzlers are one of my favourite genres, and sometimes after a hectic work week a casual challenge is all my pre-fried brain can manage.
EDIT: Bonus points for this:
Last edited by tuubi on 11 March 2021 at 11:05 am UTC
Quoting: tuubiNot challenging? So it's a modern tribute to Myst for those who didn't actually like the Myst series?
I tried to express something along these lines but failed, mainly because I didn't actually play Myst. I got the impression that it was hard in some... unpleasant way. So references to Myst are actually putting me off, though I do like hard puzzlers.
Quoting: tuubiEDIT: Bonus points for this:
So I need to downgrade to Linux(*) 2.x?
(*) which, as we all know, is the kernel
Last edited by Eike on 11 March 2021 at 11:15 am UTC
Quoting: EikeQuoting: tuubiNot challenging? So it's a modern tribute to Myst for those who didn't actually like the Myst series?
I tried to express something along these lines but failed, mainly because I didn't actually play Myst. I got the impression that it was hard in some... unpleasant way. So references to Myst are actually putting me off, though I do like hard puzzlers.
It's been ages since I played Myst, but I don't recall it being very difficult. It's follow-up Riven I never managed to finish. Maybe I should give that one a go again. 20 years of experience could lead to new insights :)
I generally like my puzzle games a bit harder, but for the price it could be nice. Bonus points for it being fairly short.
Quoting: EikeI haven't played all of them, but some of the criticism is probably deserved and some is just people complaining about the lack of handholding. The Myst idea is to just throw you into a strange world (or several) with alien but logical interconnected puzzles and let you figure out what is going on. There's also some other ideas related to story progression and world building (FMV cutscenes, lots of written lore etc.) that are often associated with Myst, but those are less important for getting labeled a Myst-like.Quoting: tuubiNot challenging? So it's a modern tribute to Myst for those who didn't actually like the Myst series?
I tried to express something along these lines but failed, mainly because I didn't actually play Myst. I got the impression that it was hard in some... unpleasant way. So references to Myst are actually putting me off, though I do like hard puzzlers.
Quoting: EhvisQuoting: EikeQuoting: tuubiNot challenging? So it's a modern tribute to Myst for those who didn't actually like the Myst series?
I tried to express something along these lines but failed, mainly because I didn't actually play Myst. I got the impression that it was hard in some... unpleasant way. So references to Myst are actually putting me off, though I do like hard puzzlers.
It's been ages since I played Myst, but I don't recall it being very difficult. It's follow-up Riven I never managed to finish. Maybe I should give that one a go again. 20 years of experience could lead to new insights :)
I don't remember if they're particularly hard, but they do require some thinking and some clues can be easy to miss.
If you're looking for similar games on Linux, both Quern and Haven Moon are worth playing.
Quoting: tuubiIf you're looking for similar games on Linux, both Quern and Haven Moon are worth playing.
I finished Haven Moon. And my Steam client keeps bugging me to play Quern
.
Quoting: EhvisQuoting: tuubiIf you're looking for similar games on Linux, both Quern and Haven Moon are worth playing.
I finished Haven Moon. And my Steam client keeps bugging me to play Quern
Do it - it's the best Myst-alike game I know of and even surpasses it in some points, especially the environmental puzzles
I've never heard of Haven Moon though. Thanks for the hint!
Quoting: tuubiIf you're looking for similar games on Linux, both Quern and Haven Moon are worth playing.
Must agree; both are great, although Haven Moon is way shorter (about 1/7th the play time here).
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