A Magical World

Mask of Mists is a first person action adventure game from developers 9 Eyes Game Studio and published by Sometimes You. I played this on Nintendo Switch and I have to give a big shoutout to the teams for giving me a review copy!

When you start this adventure you are greeted by a small cut scene explaining your quest. You are a hired adventurer whose goal is to find a missing Archmage of the kingdom that ventured out to fix a magical blight upon the world. With that, you are sent to the “infested” land the Archmage traveled to and start your search. Overall this plot is very simple and straightforward, but as you delve in a bit you can start to flesh out some of the world’s lore through various notes and diagrams left behind by the Archmage. While nothing over extravagant, it still manages to tell an enjoyable story. Don’t go into this one looking for a big “save the world” scenario. You’re finding this mage for the coin, and that’s how it goes. It’s actually very similar to a plot you would find in a short D&D session, and honestly feels about the same, which was a little refreshing compared to the usually large epic quests of modern day RPGs.

I do believe that in using a story setup as this, the developers were able to flesh out a more focused gameplay experience. The puzzles in this game stand out most of all. While most of the time you are trying to find certain items to mix together to create either potions or bombs to unlock new paths in the overworld, other times (usually in the game’s numerous dungeons) you are presented with scenarios that require you to be aware of your surroundings and identify the subtle hints that allow you to solve the puzzle before you.

There is combat in this game, but I found it to be a bit of an afterthought compared to the exploration and puzzle elements. You start with a sword, but later gain access to the musket which will allow you to dispatch the various enemies at a safe distance. There are only a few enemy types, and after a while you will learn their repeated attack patterns. Once you do the combat just becomes a mindless cleanup to be able to safely complete the puzzles. If even just a few more enemy types were added I think the combat experience would have set well with me, but as it is I feel it’s the weakest aspect of this otherwise solid game.

Presentation wise the world and all of the environments are vibrant and magical and the overall layout of both dungeons and the overworld worked well. The overworld acts as a hub and a gated progression road. The more items you find and collect will allow you to venture deeper into the overworld’s map which in turn unlocks the dungeons needed to open the final world. The only complaint I have is that each dungeon is a complete copy and paste of each other except for a few minor changes (ie. Acid water). The same is true for the music, and even though it’s a nice track, it gets a bit repetitive over the 2-3 hour runtime.

In the end I enjoyed my time with Mask of Mists, but I did see areas that could have been improved upon. If you have a couple of free hours I feel that it’s worth a playthrough. Just don’t go into this expecting an epic quest or engaging combat. Mask of Mists is available for PC, Xbox, PS4, and Nintendo Switch now!