AntVentor: Puzzle Adventure

This little game was so much fun! I admit, a few of the “puzzles” were kind of confusing but the hint system is great and I was able to finish the game. I loved the graphics and the sound effects. The cute characters were so neat and I loved the interaction between them. The pug dog caterpillar was my favorite part. He was adorable. I learned from the credits that the pug is part of the development team and is named Sherlock. If you are looking for something to do during this quarantine, definitely give this game a try. It’s worth every penny!!!!

There’s a lot to like here. It’s charming, the visuals are great, someone clearly loves games and put a ton of thought into it. But... it’s tedious. It’s the things you like least from Samarost: the walking around, the lack of clear direction. You’re going to have to rely heavily on the hint system, which has a waiting period each time and the hints are obscure sometimes. I’m having trouble getting through it, and I’m a diehard point and click gamer who really wants to appreciate this project. It truly is clever, and a lot of effort went into it. There are no real puzzles, it’s all “try to use things on things and then check if the hint timer is done”. But that’s okay; Machinarium and Samarost both have a lot of this. But they also have better hint systems, or at least, clearer hints. I’m going to keep playing. I’m not sorry I bought it, and I promise I’ll revise this review when I get to the next chapter. I will add, I haven’t experienced any actual bugs, and I’m on an iPhone 6. None of the control issues or crashes anyone else has reported, it’s been absolutely fine technically. In retrospect, I’m moving it from three to four stars, because I can see what the developers were going for. They haven’t quite got there in the first chapter, but I have high hopes for the next. And I want to encourage that, I think we will see great things from them in the future.

I am a long time fan of point and click adventure games. This one was a joy to play! It had great clues when stuck. All puzzles made sense and played a key role in the next step. There were no glitches. Most of all the graphics were BEAUTIFUL! I enjoyed Antventor, and look forward to the next chapter!