I’ll be completely honest, when I decided to do this NAIRI: Rising Tide review, I wasn’t expecting much. I simply hadn’t written a review in a while, and thought the game looked okay enough to be worth it. Going in with that negative attitude definitely left me pleasantly surprised when I started playing. I hadn’t realised at the time, but it’s actually a sequel to NAIRI: Tower of Shirin. However, thankfully, the game doesn’t assume any prior knowledge, so you’re able to jump straight in with this one.
NAIRI: Rising Tide is a narrative puzzle-adventure, and it feels like a cross between a visual novel and a point-and-click adventure. I’ll be honest, I’m not usually a big fan of visual novels; I simply don’t have the patience for them. But the puzzle and gameplay elements in NAIRI: Rising Tide make it feel a lot more interactive. Couple that with the stunning graphics, and I actually enjoyed this game a lot more than I anticipated. Read on to see whether it’s right for you!
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Story – An Asian-Inspired Tale of Intrigue
When you’re first introduced to the story of the game, it’s as a character named Shiro. His father is the leader of the council, and he feels a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. The opening scenes do a great job of setting the scene for this world, and even if you haven’t played the first game, it’ll catch you up to speed with the general lore. However, things quickly go awry, throwing you into a completely new scenario. At first, I was wondering if there’d been some kind of glitch as there’s no continuity between the first couple of scenes, but then the details slowly started to be revealed. You just have to be patient to understand where the story is going!
After that, it switches tacks again, and you play as the titular character – a girl named Nairi. I’m really glad that they changed it up, because much as I liked Shiro, Nairi is brilliant. I won’t give any spoilers, but I love how their stories connect as more is revealed.
The overall theme is one of intrigue, of a working class being held under the thumb of their rich rulers. We get introduced to a rebel group called The Rising, who are striving to make things fairer for everyone. I love when games shine a light on class inequality. Plus, Nairi: Rising Tide has several elements inspired by Asian culture, and I love expanding my horizons like this.
Characters – Fleshed Out and Fun
Much of the story takes place through character interactions. There isn’t really any narration, so aside from exploring the world, all our information about the story comes through dialogue. This is done in short bursts – just a couple of sentences at a time. Not only is this a lot more digestible than reading large blocks of text, but it allows the characters’ personality to come through.
I love how all the NPCs have distinct personalities and attitudes. Some are funny, some are friendly, some are grumpy, some are mysterious. Its this mix that provides such an excellent balance for the game, and I love finding new people to talk to. Nairi herself also has plenty of dialogue, so we get to feel really connected to the character we’re playing. Occasionally we’ll choose between dialogue options, but this is usually only for mini games. For the story itself, Nairi has a set personality, and I really enjoy her.
Gameplay – Slow but Consistent
As I mentioned in the introduction, I’m not one for visual novels. At first, I was a little worried that that might be what I had entered into with Nairi: Rising Tide, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. After the first scene, it becomes mostly a point-and-click adventure, interspersed with copious dialogue. Although it’s slow, the pace is steady, and it’s an enjoyable world to explore, so I love it. I did notice that sometimes the cursor symbols wouldn’t work, though. It’s supposed to show a magnifying glass when you hover over something interactive, or a door/ arrow symbol when you hover over something that’ll take you to a new area. However, sometimes your cursor would stay as the default hand symbol no matter where you hovered over on the screen. So in many areas, I’d be randomly clicking everything until I found what I was looking for.
You can collect items in your surroundings, and later on in the game, you get the tool belt. This allows you to craft new items using things you’ve already found, which is pretty exciting. Unfortunately, there’s no experimentation with this mechanic, you can only build what you’re supposed to for the story. It’s all very linear.
The navigation isn’t brilliant. You do get a map for each area, but important locations aren’t marked on it. If, like me, you suck at directions, you may struggle with this. It’s especially frustrating as the transitions between areas aren’t always intuitive, and you may need to take several turns to get to a specific area.
Puzzles – Not Exactly a Challenge
As well as progressing the story through dialogue, the gameplay also includes several ‘puzzles’. I put it in quotation marks as most of the time, they’re pretty basic. It’ll usually be something along the line of you finding a locked gate, and then having to find a key that’s hidden behind a rock or something.
Sometimes, however, the opposite is true, and the puzzles become very difficult. Not due to any kind of strategic challenge or complicated logic, though. It’ll be that you’re missing an essential item, and it could be literally anywhere. It’s really frustrating, because it’s not something you can really use your brain for, you just have to explore the entirety of the map, talking to all the NPCs until you find it.
I would’ve preferred more complicated puzzles with a focus on thinking through the solution, rather than ones that relied on finding the right items. Still, I enjoyed the rest of the game enough that it didn’t bother me too much. Plus, even though they weren’t very exciting, it still created that varied gameplay.
You could also get hints later in the game. You had to find coins that were hidden around the world, and then you could use them to purchase hints. Unfortunately, the hints were less than helpful a lot of the time, as they just told me stuff I already knew!
Audio & Visuals – Hand-Drawn Heaven
Ah, the artwork. Seriously, it’s just gorgeous. The hand-drawn style of Nairi: Rising Tide is what drew me to request it in the first place, and it truly is the star of the show. Every aspect of this game has been crafted with care and attention. If you needed any proof as to why human artists are so important, this game is it. AI could never replicate the love and attention that the developers put into this.
I love how we get a full view of the characters when they’re talking, with them appearing above the text box for their dialogue. It helps you feel really immersed in what’s happening, and to see the expressions of the characters. Watching how their faces change depending on the content of the conversation is fascinating.
The music is beautiful too – tranquil and chilled, but interesting enough to not just fade into the background. It’s tailored to the different areas, and it always helps add to the overall ambience. I must admit, I haven’t really noticed sound effects, but I think there were a few throughout. Unfortunately, the dialogue isn’t read out loud, so you have to just read it. I would’ve loved to have heard voice actors, but given the prevalence of dialogue in this game, I can see how that could’ve become very expensive!
Verdict
I wasn’t expecting this Nairi: Rising Tide review to be so positive! I went into it fully anticipating an underwhelmingly average experience, but instead it surprised me! This was so much fun to play, and I felt so engaged with the story and the characters. It helped me slow down and just appreciate the little moments, rather than needing lots of real-time action to keep me entertained.
If you’re after a narrative-driven adventure game, this could be exactly what you’re after! And at such an affordable price, it really is a bargain!
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Nairi: Rising Tide (Switch)
£12.19
Pros
- Gorgeous hand-drawn artwork
- Fleshed out characters with fun personalities
- An engaging storyline
Cons
- Cursor doesn't always work properly
- Puzzles don't offer a fun challenge
