Small Showdowns in a Big Labyrinth. A Review of the Domestic Indie Lord Ambermaze

In Lord Ambermaze, time flows strangely — the environment comes to life when the protagonist starts moving. This mechanic gives the player all the time in the world to solve puzzles, but every action must be calculated in advance. Is this feature enough to make the exploration interesting? How did the project turn out? Let's find out in this review!

Mysterious Island

The story begins with a fisherman named Zin and his sister Shanti, who went fishing. The player is shown how the relatives get caught in a storm, and their boat is carried to a mysterious island. Zin discovers that Shanti is missing. First, he sets out to find her.

Zin finds himself in a time anomaly. All monsters, traps, and dangerous zones come to life when he starts moving. On his way, Zin meets a group of girls who have been on the island for hundreds of years, and with their help, he reaches Shanti. However, the dungeon master easily deals with the simpleton fisherman, forcing him to embark on a dangerous adventure to save his sister.

Puzzles, Puzzles, and More Puzzles

To achieve his goal, Zin needs to complete levels that are giant labyrinths. Each is divided into dozens of rooms that hold many dangers and secrets. In safe rooms, you can occupy yourself with destroying bushes where coins, chests, and even passages to lower levels with treasures are hidden. If you're lucky, you can stumble upon a switch that opens a passage to a previously inaccessible zone.

In the challenge room, you need to complete a task to gain access to the treasure chest. There are different tasks: not attacking with a sword, destroying enemies in a certain number of moves, or choosing the correct chest, and so on.

The enemy room is inhabited by various monsters, and they differ in the amount of health and method of attack. The first opponents are easy to build into a "train" and chop down one by one with a sword. With more healthy and full of unpleasant surprises creatures, you will have to tinker. You need to detonate bombs in time, lure the enemy onto spikes, and even use the enemies' attack against each other to achieve victory.

The situation is similar with bosses. In their turn, they hit hard and often in an area, and many summon a very unpleasant support group. At the same time, you need to take into account not only the behavior of the bosses, but also the extensive health reserve – at the beginning, you will have to poke them for a long time.

Solving puzzles and destroying enemies inevitably leads to the discovery of new useful items. Zin starts with a simple sword and shield that blocks one incoming attack for energy. Over time, he will learn to use bombs and kick them, as well as shoot a bow.

Various artifacts are hidden in chests opened with keys — they reward additional resources, protect against certain damage (like spikes), and increase attack. If you're lucky, you can stumble upon blue hearts, which act as temporary health.

The money collected on the level is spent at vendors. They buy an increase in the maximum supply of health and energy, or learn new techniques from a martial arts master. For special resources, you can increase the supply of potions that save in case of failures, or build statues that give passive bonuses.

Upon completion of the level, the player is awarded bonuses for destroyed enemies, found secrets, and solved puzzles. After that, everything starts again — the next huge level, increased difficulty of enemies, and even greater variety of traps.

Minor but Numerous "Glitches"

During the passage, I encountered things that spoiled the overall impression of the project — they are not critical, but rather annoying in a flat place:

• Items from the chest can fall into the abyss, which makes it impossible to pick them up;
• If you leave the room and return, the coins that fell out of the monsters disappear;
• Want to get coins with a fishing rod? You'll have to exit and enter the mini-game activation zone;
• When monsters are destroyed, all spikes disappear. But if you come across a room with a puzzle, its solution does not get rid of the spikes – you will have to avoid them during a repeated visit;
• Most of all, the sound produced by the portals is annoying. It hits the ears at a time when you are thinking about the next move. At the very beginning, there is a scene where Zin stands in the portal and starts a long conversation with two characters. All this time, I had to listen to the rattling in the background!
• The game has a large number of unique resources such as gems and amber – they are used to buy special improvements. There are special items that can be given as a gift to develop relationships with girls, but each time they are received, the same animation is played. Is it worth saying how quickly she manages to get bored?

Diagnosis

Lord Ambermaze is a simple but solid game. The plot and world are unusual, and the characters you meet conquer with charisma. The puzzles are not too difficult, but you will still have to think about their solution — the balance has been maintained. And coming up with various ways to destroy enemies is simply fun — so you want to do it again and again every time.

This variety is overshadowed by shortcomings, but the developers should not have problems fixing them in patches. The main problem is the typical for an indie project overload of the game from the very beginning! The very first level includes many rooms, which makes the constant solving of puzzles exhausting. Enthusiasm should be encouraged, but the number of tests should preferably be increased gradually, and not throw the player into a lake with content.

Pro:

• Unusual world and plot
• Interesting and fun mechanics
• Cute visual style

Contra:

• Excessive overload of levels from the very beginning
• Annoying music and repetitive animations