Relax and Solve Puzzles – What Never Was Review

What Never Was Title

Summary

This adventure game is a reminder of how enjoyable the genre can be with a good story. Made by Acke Hallgren in the Unreal Engine, this brief point-and-click allows players to explore an attic that has some unexpected items. With puzzles that are just challenging enough, it is both relaxing and frustrating in a way that only adventure games can be.

Gameplay/Graphics

There is no mistake that the game looks beautiful. The number of objects a player can interact with and hear feedback on is surprising. There are some small issues in the user interface and level design, but these do not detract from the core concepts of the game. Perhaps the biggest frustration is when left-clicking or right-clicking on objects. Typically, a left-click means to interact whereas a right-click is an observation. Not only is this is reversed in What Never Was, but it is also never explained in the game.

What Never Was Beta Screenshot

Narrative

The premise is that you’re a young woman named Sarah who is clearing out the belongings of your recently deceased grandfather. All of this is through an opening scene where Sarah is on the phone with her mom. The screen is black, and the usage of sound effects along with the conversation sets the scene. The voice acting is all right, but some lines sounded hollow. Once in the game, exploring the level brings light to the relationship Sarah and her grandfather had. Other in-game observations made show the protagonist to being whimsical as well, and that makes her likable.

Conclusion

Even though it was a game I beat in less than an hour; I still enjoyed it immensely. I love that it is an actual adventure game in every sense possible. From the puzzles to Sarah’s remarks to the intriguing story that we don’t get enough of, I am excited to see what Acke Hallgren develops next. Hopefully, it is more of the above with polish.

Did you like this article? Consider supporting Indie Hive through Patreon! Patrons receive an early access article on Sundays!
Become a patron at Patreon!

20 thoughts on “Relax and Solve Puzzles – What Never Was Review

  1. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say fantastic blog!|

  2. Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is wonderful, let alone the content!|

  3. Hey! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the fantastic work!|

  4. Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appearance. I must say you’ve done a excellent job with this. Also, the blog loads super fast for me on Firefox. Excellent Blog!|

  5. Hey just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same outcome.|

  6. Aw, this was an exceptionally good post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a great article… but what can I say… I put things off a lot and never seem to get anything done.|

Leave a Reply