It is very easy for our brain to define video games using others as a reference. “It looks like”, “a striking substitute for” and many other recurring phrases that indicate that we are facing a promising alternative. Return to Grace He has done exactly the same thing, but has raised the bar to an excessively high level.
A cross between BioShock and Firewatch, but without combat. That is the visualization that the Creative Bytes Studios team has had about their second project after launching Embers of Mirrim in 2017. A sidereal journey to a far away space station that disappoints like few games in 2023.
return to grace
Brave are those who reach Grace, since it has been closed for thousands of years. This is the name given to a extremely powerful artificial intelligence that she came to be considered a goddess among mortals and that she completely ruled a galactic complex in which her believers took refuge. She, in turn, was in charge of maintaining the preservation of the solar system.
What’s an absolute mystery is why it stopped working eons ago, which is why space archaeologist Adie Ito embarks on an adventure to find out what the hell happened. She will not be alone, because throughout our journey we will be able to enjoy the company of numerous AIs that will entertain with unique dialogues.
This is because we not only have the AI of the spaceship in which we arrive at the icy stage where Grace is located, but also your consciousness has split into fractal variations that we will acquire the more we go into it. Each one of them has her own personality, whether it is Mother or Control, since each one of them thinks differently and has their own reasons for acting.
The facilities are sprinkled by an architecture that we have only seen conceptually, since it is retro science fiction from the 60s. Despite the fact that the reference to that style is evident, it is missing that the settings are much more ornate, since that it is a constant to find very empty rooms.
A different path?
The vital weight of Return to Grace It is possessed by the narrative component, since we are promised that we will have a great branching of paths, discovery of clues and different interactions between the characters depending on our choices. The truth is you hardly feel that difference in terms of decisions that we take, since the changes are as subtle as choosing which flower in a garden best suits our personality.
The other option is to decide if we want to cross a dangerous path walking between the beams, but saving a lot of time, or be much more cautious walking a icy path that provides security. They are few nuances and they do not really transfer a vital importance to what we are doing. Yes, AIs push us in one direction or another, but the most far-reaching consequences like getting rid of an AI cannot be executed by sheer narrative imposition.
The dialogues with the AI from the device that we have on our left wrist, together with audios distributed in strange devices by Grace, are our anchor point to understand the context of what has happened between the walls of the station. The plot, which There is listening and reading in English without the option of Spanishfails to deeply connect Adie’s motivations with Grace’s inside story, so it feels like we’re moving forward without a clear purpose.
low bet
Creative Bytes Studios already warns that we are dealing with a medium-sized title, but this does not exempt it from certain sections that can be more than improved. The technical section leaves a lot to be desired, with constant popping in the vegetation, unstable loading of certain textures and a level of detail that falls extremely short compared to current standards. Some aesthetic decisions, such as Adie’s outfit, are really ugly and not very pleasing to the eye.
With everything, Return to Grace’s mechanical stake is tremendously low and very unchallenging. We’ll have to hack old computer systems or use a flamethrower jetpack, as well as decipher numerical sequences by activating power strips, but it’s all too simple. These are the moments in which we can interact directly, since most of the time we will be listening to the AI, and everything is reduced to simple patterns, holding down a button or pressing another so that the programs themselves automatically solve the problem .
We are facing a slow game, since we cannot make Adie run or perform large pirouettes at our own risk. The parkour situations are highly automated, reducing the thrill of missing a jump to pressing a button and having the astronaut perform the actions on her own. As if that were not enough, the aforementioned flamethrower is shown to be one of the most interesting additions to the adventure, although we can only resort to its flaming power once in the entire game.
VidaExtra’s opinion
I am sure that the intention behind the development of Return to Grace is to offer us a narrative adventure with large doses of immersion in a unique environment, but the result is too unbalanced. Visually, a very interesting architectural stylealthough it is common to come across rooms devoid of life and with few elements decorating it.
It is true that the dialogues between the AIs are promising at certain times, even with fights between them, but it is difficult to wait for those conversations. This is because often we won’t be able to do anything until the talk is over. It does not help much that the mechanical section is one of the weakest of all of 2023, in which the challenge is so poor that it becomes more of a nuisance than a challenge.
On the other hand, Return to Grace suffers from technical and graphical deficiencies, which keeps it from being an attractive title in our eyes. The checkpoints are sometimes established too far apart in time between them, so repeating sections becomes tedious. That can happen if the game crashes, as it happened to me.
Return to Grace Price
we can get Return to Grace only through PC, but it is available on both the Epic Games Store and Steam. We can buy it for 14.79 euros at the standard price.
Return to Grace Duration
The playing time of Return to Grace It is around two hours into the game, although it can increase or decrease depending on whether you ignore all the audio or resort to solving puzzles directly.
Return to Grace
platforms | PC (reviewed version) |
---|---|
multiplayer | No |
developer | Creative Bytes Studios |
Company | Creative Bytes Studios |
Launch | May 30, 2023 |
The best
- The highly differentiated personalities of AIs
- Artistically committed to an attractive style
Worst
- Frequent technical errors and poor graphics
- The puzzles are a joke
- The limited variety of mechanics
- Some sections can become tedious
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