Ever since it was first shown, Ary and the Secret of Seasons was able to grab an ever-larger slice of the public who, probably attracted by a decidedly inspired artistic direction, eagerly awaited the release of the title. Now that the work developed by eXiin e Fishing Cactus and published by Modus Games has finally landed on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, we were able to play and complete an action adventure in third person which, unfortunately, turned out to be a burning opportunity wasted. Let's find out why in our review of the version together Nintendo Switch of the game.
The Guardians of the Seasons
The plot of Ary and the Secret of Seasons is quite simple and, in some ways, a bit banal: the protagonist, Aryelle, Nicknamed Ary, is a young girl who, after the disappearance of her older brother, decides to fill her role as Guardian of Winter. After an obscure presence threatens the regular cycle of the seasons, Ary steals the crystal of winter and goes in search of the other guardians, to help them face this mysterious enemy. We are therefore faced with a decidedly plot linear, which unfortunately presents very few interesting ideas, despite the fact that the premises were quite different. The adventure is characterized by very light tones, which manage not to make the linearity of the plot weigh too much, thanks also to some witty and gag around. The main campaign can be completed in one ten hours, while it will take a few more hours to complete all the side missions that are present within the adventure.
As anticipated, Ary and the Secret of Seasons is a third-person action adventure with some elements typical of RPGs and the platform genre, with a map openworld of medium size which however manages to be well characterized. As for the gameplay, we are in fact faced with a too simplistic combat system, consisting of a single attack with the additional possibility of dodging enemy attacks by rolling and parrying them by pressing a button at the right time. The entire play structure is not only not deepened in any way, in fact they seem to be almost a contour to the work, but at the same time it also manages to give some problems anyway due to a very imprecise control system.
Giving some depth to the gameplay is the mechanics of crystals of the seasons. Thanks to four special crystals obtainable during the adventure, Ary has in fact the possibility to modify the surrounding environment. For example, the winter crystal is able to freeze some streams, allowing you to walk on them. An interesting expedient, which has also been quite thorough and becomes one of the most important points in favor of the entire production. The stages of platformer however, they suffer from serious problems and even some sections that could be really intelligent and well thought out, thanks above all to a good level design and the use of the mechanics of the seasons crystals, are undermined by inaccurate checks which make dealing with these sequences frustrating. In fact, it will happen that you have to repeat a section over and over again, due to a wrong jump or a movement that you did not want to make.
Still life
Il technical sector of Ary and the Secret of Seasons is definitely below our expectations, at least as regards the Nintendo Switch version of the title. Both in portability and connected to the dock station, we have noticed many problems linked precisely to this aspect, but let's go in order. As mentioned before, the level design is really good and, apart from some sections perhaps too similar to each other, we can be satisfied with the work done by the development team. Even the design of the characters and the settings, all very colorful and with cheerful tones, very close to oriental culture, are certainly well done, but we cannot say the same of the polygonal models. The models featured in Ary and the Secret of Seasons turn out in fact little defined, made almost in an approximate way. Even the texture they often appear grainy and not at all defined, even in movies and close-ups. To season it all, a unstable framerate, which makes the title almost unplayable in some sections, at least as regards the Switch version. Not only in the gameplay phases, but also and above all, in the cutscenes, we have in fact encountered heavy drops in frames.
To this are then added many glitch e bug, some related to the main feature of the game, namely that of the change of seasons. After using a crystal, in fact, a camera movement could "accidentally" show two different textures for the same element. Ary's jump also, due to a bug, allows you to climb and position yourself on the head of your enemies, preventing them from hitting us. Regarding the sonoro instead, we are quite happy with the music used, all quite inspired and in line with the direction of the work. The dubbing instead it is fluctuating and there is a huge difference between the voice actors of the main characters and those of lesser thickness. However, the sound effects are good and the presence of the musicians is rather welcome subtitles in Spanish.
