Ary and the Secret of Seasons Reviews
At times, Ary and the Secret of Seasons can be a fun if not particularly memorable new action adventure game, but what will really stick in your mind are the various gamebreaking bugs you can stumble across. I would certainly wait a few seasons for patches before considering picking this up. There is the skeleton of an enjoyable family-friendly title here but it just isn't ready.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is fun for a while, but the technical issues really effect it, and stop you from having a great adventure.
Clearly a labor of love, Ary unites puzzles, platforming and exploration into one round package. Although its technical issues are a bit off-putting at first, if you can look past them, there's much fun to be had.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons has some good qualities. However, they're almost always in danger of being trampled by the game's consistent lack of polish and stream of bugs.
If you’re a fan of the genre, you could do a lot worse than picking up Ary and the Secret of Seasons. After all, ‘tis always the season for adventure.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons reminds me greatly of an animated children’s film. It also reminds me of an early-2000s online computer game for kids, complete with choppy cutscenes and terrible graphical performance. There’s a ton of charm to be found in the soft animation and the silly characters, but there’s also a disappointing level of detail that’s missing from this unpolished adventure.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is a lovely looking game with some truly smart gameplay ideas, but all of that is plagued by screen-tearing, performance issues, animation bugs, and a general lack of polish in almost every aspect. After a few patches and a sale Ary could become someone's favourite game, but the fact it launched in this state is just a shame.
Even if the developers will manage to fix all the gamebreaking bugs with subsequent patches, the core issues like a weak battle system, mediocre plot and lazy worldbuilding are not going anywhere. The only thing that can motivate you to see this game through is Ary's never ending charisma and a chance to see some narrative closure.
Review in Russian | Read full review
As of right now, even for someone as desperate to be captivated by a light-hearted adventure like me, Ary and the Secret of the Seasons is an exercise in frustration that isn’t likely to improve your mood.
I sincerely wanted to enjoy this adventure. Everything I had read about it excited me but here I am, feeling as though I wasted too many hours and grew a dozen new white hairs stressing over a game that was just not ready to be released. From in-game glitches to progression-halting bugs, what little fun there was ended up marred by a game that just didn't feel finished.
A well-told story, a fantastic gameplay mechanic centred around seasons, and a well-realised world filled with unique characters. It’s not a game we’d urge you to rush out and purchase immediately, but if you’re after an action-adventure fix, you could do a lot worse.
I think the game needed a bit more time in development to truly shine; erase the above issues and it would have been one of my favourite games of 2020 so far due to its magical storyline and Ary’s strength. A bit more time for the devs to fill up the world with more life, make the NPCs less like cardboard cut-outs and give players a bit more direction would make this game really shine.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is perfect for the old platformer and The Legend of Zelda lovers, but it's literally devastated by technical problems, from tearing to cluncky controls.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is a fun and innocent experience that should be recognised for its high-standard of puzzle design and clever implementation of its unique seasonal dome mechanic. Unfortunately, poor progression and irritating UI design make otherwise enjoyable sections frustrating, and the slew of bad performance issues and glitches ensure that Ary's journey isn't all fun.
Ultimately, Ary and The Secret of Seasons is a tragically rushed title. I honestly wanted to like this game; I like the genre, the aesthetics, and the characters that are actually voiced. It’s a lighthearted action platformer with a unique plot, big adventure, and interesting bosses.
While Ary and the Secret of Seasons is an original, feel-good game with an interesting gameplay mechanic, it's still an unpolished game that deserved more fine-tuning to do justice to its scope.
Unfortunately, Ary‘s problems largely overshadow everything there is to love about it.
Early glimpses of the puzzles and dungeons showed just how great Ary and the Secret of Seasons could be, and while those are realised here, it's just not enough to make up for the numerous issues and missteps. Many players won't be able to even see those best moments unless they have the considerable patience needed to be able to get over halfway through. A true disappointment; there is an awful lot to like here, but ultimately it's hard to recommend this. Strangely, considering how many times it's been delayed, this just feels unfinished, like a preview build.
There are the bones of a fun and inventive game here. I had a blast playing an earlier demo on PC but the Switch just isn't able to deliver that. While I can't recommend the Switch version, this may still be worth checking out in some other form.