This series surprised me positively. The artwork and music enhanced the point and click immersion. The thoughtfully designed and well-paced puzzles were challenging but achievable with patience and observation. The story kept the game fresh throughout. Initially, I rushed through the prologue and first chapter, skimming notes for clues but ignoring them. However, by the second and third chapters, I sought logs and memos to delve deeper into the mystery. I found myself genuinely interested in the story of a point and click, which is rare. In the early chapters, I encountered two frustrating puzzles due to needing what I had perceived as an unintuitive inference that required blind guessing or the hint feature (which I lacked in hard mode and resorted to looking online for a tip). But by the second and third chapters, I was more familiar with the developers’ style and trusted the puzzles. While it was sometimes challenging to recognize in those moments of defeat, there was a sensible reason behind each solution that created a satisfying aha moment rather than the frustration of finding a missing clue that felt forced and stumbled upon while desperately clicking on anything with a surface. The challenge but fairness of the puzzles made me feel invested in the game and I prioritized achieving the “escape” on my own.

If this prologue doesn’t reel you in, then this game isn’t for you. This series is so well designed and remarkable that it creeps into your dreams at night. By the third chapter the haunting solitude just completely gnaws at you. The prologue itself isn’t a brilliant stand-alone game. You really have to keep going. Others have remarked that the very end of the series was a disappointment. I would argue that it ended perfectly in such a haunting and bittersweet way. I won’t give away any of the story, but if you prefer a happy Hollywood ending, you aren’t going to get that. This game series is ALL about the journey and the end makes perfectly good sense but certainly isn’t a fairytale ending.

I’ve been playing all the Meridian 157 games for a long time now, and in my opinion, they’re the best games in the App Store. From the first to the last game, this series out shines all the others. Amazing graphics, easy/medium/hard games to keep your cerebral cortex firing, and an ending that actually had me slamming my head onto the keyboard. So if you’ve been hankering to slam your head onto your keyboard, give the entire Meridian 157 series a try. For the price, this series can’t be beat. Best binge play experience to be had. (I still have Ctrl-Alt-Delete compressed into my forehead.)

For a prologue it did take me some time to run thru the game & figure out the puzzles but definitely kept me intrigued until the end, in one sitting. There was 1 puzzle with opening the bridge that wasn’t really that clear to where I had to use the hint a few times but finally figured it out. It’s nice to have the Hint option if you get stuck but it’s subtle hints so you can still try to figure it out yourself. Some puzzles were easy & others were challenging which makes this game worth it, especially since it’s free. I love the opportunity to checkout the game before purchasing the next chapters, can’t wait to explore the rest of this story! Also I had no glitches which is a plus.