You’re a wizard Ary..Oh wait, wrong franchise…
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is adventure game following a young girl named Aryelle, or Ary, as she journeys across the great world of Valdi. By becoming the Guardian of Winter, Ary gains the ability to manipulate the seasons around her. Ary will learn to control the seasons and use them to defeat enemies, overcome obstacles, and solve complex puzzles on her adventure across Valdi.
The game began with an incredibly cheesy, cringeworthy intro of Ary playing with her toys. Afterwards, I prayed that the worst was behind me but that was only half-true. Ary is a game that has some good ideas and can be fun at times, but there are also a lot of infuriating moments that hold it back from what could have been a superb game.
The game is an action game with puzzle elements, though its more focused on the latter and is better when it does so, as the combat itself is a bit of a mess. It doesn’t help that the game is incredibly glitchy at the time of writing, suffering from numerous bugs, animation issues, progression problems, framerate woes and screen interference. I hope these do get ironed out over time because there is a good game underneath it all, but currently these problems weigh down the potential.
I think Ary is one of those games that could have done longer in the oven, so to speak. It doesn’t feel optimised for consoles and what ideas it has feel half-baked. It definitely could have benefited from a longer production cycle, maybe even if it held back for the next generation. Having said that, it isn’t the worst adventure game I’ve played this generation, but it feels like a missed opportunity overall.
The Verdict
Ary and the Secret of Seasons has some decent ideas but are poorly executed and the current number of performance issues really hold back what could have been something truly great. Instead it feels like it was rushed out the gate, which is a shame. Hopefully future updates will improve things, but until then the game gets an average score.