Change your perspective – Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom

The kingdom lays in ruin, your father is fast asleep and your mother is gone, and only you can save them. This is Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom, a cute 3D puzzle game from Shatterproof Games.

You take control of Aarik, the young prince who has found his father’s old crown. This crown gives him the ability to change the perspective of the current level. By changing the perspective, new pathways open to you, allowing you to reach new heights and locations, as you progress to the exit.

You later find gems which unlock additional powers. One allows you to move objects, another enables you to control objects and the last morphs the landscape. These mechanics slowly build throughout so they never felt overwhelming, and the next was only added once I had mastered the last.

Controlling Aarik can be done with the WASD keyboard controls but it’s designed for playing with a mouse as you click to direct things where to move. I found using the mouse to move the camera around and activate the powers was pretty smooth, but I would be interested to see how it works on Switch.

The combination of gems and perspective creates an interesting bag of tricks to solve each level/puzzle. There are 33 levels which span deserts, mines and other locations. Every puzzle offers something new, all the while leading you through the story.

Indeed, there is a story here, which is something generally overlooked in puzzle games. Aarik meets a few characters who help progress the story through speech bubble text. There are also scrolls left in levels which add further context. It’s a shallow plot pool to be sure, but rather endearing and cosy.

The characters have interesting designs, having fewer details while still giving a strong impression. Similarly, the set graphics are simplified but well-designed. The level designs though… There’s some incredible level design incorporated into the puzzles. I was stumped for a while on a few of them but never felt cheated by obtuse solutions.

Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom - an underground level with lots of puzzle pieces to move

Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom - a puzzle with a hook hanging from the ceiling

The sound design works incredibly well. There isn’t any voice acting, but the characters have unique yammer sounds. The music is lovely and builds the atmosphere as you move through the different areas.

From such a small team Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom is an incredible feat of style and design. It took me about 3 hours to go through the story, but I had missed a few collectables, so there is some replay ability.