Back in 2018, the Switch’s touchscreen functionality made point-and-click games, once best played on PC, much more accessible for console players. In fact, many of the games on our list Best point and click adventure game launched in the second year of the hybrid console – NAIRI: Shirin Tower among them. Six years later, Dutch developer HomeBear Studio continues the story with Nairi: High tide. So, does it rise to the occasion? Most of.
We’ll explain the details later, but first a quick warning that mild spoilers for Tower Of Shirin lie ahead. The first installment is not a prerequisite; If you haven’t played it or need a recap, Rising Tide has an optional narrative section in which Nairi tells the story of her previous adventure. That means Tower Of Shirin players will be equipped with useful knowledge of the lore.
Both games take place in Shirin, a city divided into Rich, Middle, and Poor districts. In the first game, Rich District resident Nairi’s parents were illegally arrested and she was forced into hiding – where she is currently. As Rising Tide begins, we see the story of Tower Of Shirin from the perspective of Shiro, whose father was a member of the Shirin Council along with Nairi’s father. We then return to the perspective of Nairi and the two children trying to sneak back to the Rich District, encountering corrupt governments, uprisings, kidnappings, and mysterious magical forces along the way. .
That’s the abridged version of the whole story which we found a bit difficult to follow. The sequel introduces a lot of characters and subplots but doesn’t have much time to get into them all. As the storytelling tides turned, we realized the best way to keep from getting lost in B-stories was to stay on Nairi and Hiro’s mission while the other arcs washed over us.
The characters’ long conversations give Rising Tides a sense of visual novelty. The dialogue is cute and contains many childish (almost cheesy) jokes, although it takes on a more serious tone with its themes of corruption and class conflict. As you traverse Shirin, the puzzles are light: you can make a series of transactions, fill in the blanks, fix things with your tools, or deliver a lost item. You’ll need a keen eye to spot the various coins and objects on the ground while exploring, as the majority of the interactable elements will blend in with the background.
The dungeons are where the puzzles really shine, and with only one or two characters appearing, dialogue becomes sparse. The puzzles are mentally demanding and often satisfying to solve. They’re not terribly upsetting, although they can be dark in a way that seems at odds with kid-friendly humor. There are only three dungeons but these multi-room, multi-level fortresses make up about half the game, with puzzles that require you to run in and out of rooms and levels to pull a lever that connects to another floor or put multiple parts together (sometimes literally). They often challenge you to think twice and use every tool, touch every wall and every piece of furniture, even if it looks impossible to interact with. In one puzzle you spin a dial to color different symbols, in another you memorize the sequence of a story, in another you aim a laser beam at a ball bridge.
Right from the start, you’ll have access to Hint Chick, who will charge a penny for a puzzle hint in the form of a small drawing. We promise it’s not cheating; The hints themselves can be quite confusing. Hint Chick also allows you to skip dungeons entirely if you’re too stuck and just want to continue the story. We’d love to brag that we completed the playthrough without hints, but alas, many of the puzzles use logic that takes some getting used to or exploits a small portion of the lore. Usually, we get our cue and mutter ‘Oh, I’ll never understand that.’ Clearly HomeBear has been paying attention to feedback (eg Our Tower Of Shirin reviewwhich notes the trend towards cryptic puzzles, which you could argue is a staple of the genre) with these suggestions – and we’re grateful they did.
Since Rising Tide is a point-and-click mode, handheld mode is your friend here. The screen is responsive and although some items look very small, the touchable area is large. In docked mode, the menus can be difficult to use with the controller, but menus for the large screen won’t detract from the experience. It also offers a motion control option where you can point and click your Joy-Cons on your TV, as long as you’re okay with the lack of precision.
The game’s performance was a bit laggy and stuttered early on when we paused a cutscene. We also experienced slow loading screens when moving between areas. However, hopefully these bugs will be patched at a later date as they won’t deter interested players.
The cleaner graphics and brighter colors will be a recognizable difference to existing fans, while newcomers will simply enjoy the watercolor hand-drawn aesthetic of the characters. Cute and classic setting. That, combined with the relatively minimalist animation, reminds us of picture books.
The music is so consistent that you might not even notice it. We mean that in a positive way, as it’s never distracting when you’re trying to absorb lines of text or focus on a mysterious puzzle. Cheerful marigolds in town, slow little guitar sounds in dungeons, and satisfying bells when solving puzzles – it all makes for an aurally enjoyable experience.
Conclusion
Nairi: Rising Tide is a solid, if slightly weaker, sequel that expands on the world established in Tower Of Shirin. Some slow loading screens and hard-to-recognize items won’t hinder your overall enjoyment too much, especially if you loved the first entry. The complex puzzles are great, although you may need to take a hint. And while at times it may feel like you’re reading through the story, there’s enough narrative thread to pull you through to a tense ending. There are no spoilers but the final moments have us dying to know what Nairi, Shiro and their friends will do next.
