Ahnayro: The Dream World
- June 9, 2016
- Alice & Smith
- 6h median play time
Get on SteamAhnayro: The Dream World is a narrative-driven puzzle game that takes place in a haunting dream world filled with mysterious figures. Players explore immersive audio narratives and tackle 50 challenging puzzles, gathering real-world facts and information to guide their way. The game delves deep into historical events, bizarre subjects, and transmedia narratives to provide a unique and unexplored gaming experience.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Ahnayro offers a unique blend of puzzle-solving and real-world research, making it an engaging and educational experience.
- The atmosphere and visuals are beautifully crafted, enhancing the immersive quality of the game.
- Players report a strong sense of satisfaction when solving puzzles, as they often require deep thinking and creative connections.
- The game can be frustratingly difficult, with some puzzles requiring obscure knowledge that may not be accessible to all players.
- There is a lack of in-game guidance or tutorials, which can leave players feeling lost, especially if they are not familiar with American history or the game's themes.
- The ending feels abrupt and unsatisfying for some players, lacking a climactic resolution after the challenging journey.
- story44 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game's story revolves around Jocelyn, a young woman suffering from a sleep disorder, and is presented through various documents, dream journals, and an alternate reality game (ARG) format. While some players found the narrative engaging and immersive, particularly through its exploration of real-world topics, others felt it was poorly told and lacked depth, leading to a somewhat confusing experience. Overall, the story has intriguing themes and a somber tone, appealing to those who enjoy puzzles and complex narratives, but may leave some players wanting more resolution.
“The story that slowly unfolds is certainly fun for those who enjoy playing Freudian and Jungian games.”
“The storyline is amazing and you can see that the publisher has put a lot of effort into researching topics about dreams and related subjects.”
“An ingenious puzzle game, inventive ways to solve, and an intriguing and complex story interwoven throughout, highly recommended for those who want to jumpstart their brains in the ways of abstract thinking.”
“The rest of the story was confusing, though I wasn't paying that much attention, anyways.”
“There is no characters, action, and story.”
“There is no big ending though, just a somber story to reflect on.”
- music15 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its haunting and immersive qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and complementing the engaging puzzles and narrative. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack as a standout feature, describing it as beautiful and dreamlike, making it enjoyable enough to listen to for hours. While the music contributes significantly to the game's ambiance, some players noted that the gameplay mechanics could be confusing and repetitive.
“The music, the fantastic puzzles, and the lore pull you in, and the real world and the game world slowly start blending together and suddenly it's three hours later and you have 26 browser tabs open and three notebook pages full of scribblings.”
“The atmosphere this game creates with music and visuals is absolutely perfect.”
“A fun research game with a good story and a fantastic soundtrack.”
“The sound and music also added to the latter effect.”
“Research puzzles pretty much end up performing Google searches and reading Wikipedia and blog articles about general knowledge topics, while listening to the game's music in the background.”
“The music adds to the ambience - haunting and dreamlike - contributing to the mysterious atmosphere.”
- atmosphere15 mentions
- 73 % positive mentions
- 7 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its haunting and immersive qualities, enhanced by exceptional graphics and a captivating musical score. Players appreciate the blend of ancient aesthetics and a dreamlike narrative that enriches the puzzle-solving experience, although some note that the gameplay mechanics can be confusing. Overall, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to its appeal.
“The music adds to the ambience - haunting and dreamlike - adding to the mysterious atmosphere; as well as the puzzles there's a story weaved through in a dreamlike narrative.”
“These are some of the best puzzles I've ever worked on, with a perfect blend of esoteric and familiar material supplemented with fantastic, mesmerizing voice work and perfect control of atmosphere.”
“An interesting puzzle game with a strange and haunting atmosphere.”
“The heirlooms and antiques provided in the backgrounds gave an ancient feel to the atmosphere, as well as the color scheme.”
“The music adds to the ambience - haunting and dreamlike - enhancing the mysterious atmosphere; along with the puzzles, there's a story woven through in a dreamlike narrative.”
- graphics14 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are widely praised for their beauty and engaging presentation, featuring a well-polished steampunk aesthetic complemented by vintage photographs and a thoughtful color scheme. While not heavily graphically intensive, the visuals effectively enhance the immersive atmosphere alongside the sound design, creating a captivating experience. Overall, the art direction is considered exceptional, contributing significantly to the game's narrative and puzzle-solving elements.
“The graphics were beautiful and engaging, as were the sound effects and music, setting a great stage for this immersive adventure.”
“The presentation of the game itself is gorgeous; the well-polished steampunk aesthetic is bolstered by vintage photographs and nice color schemes.”
“The atmosphere this game creates with music and visuals is absolutely perfect.”
“The visuals are kinda pretty.”
“However, what it lacks in advanced graphics it makes up for in well polished art direction and riddles that take more than just a few keywords punched into Google for a solution.”
“It's not a heavily graphically-intensive game, so most people shouldn't need to worry on that part.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay primarily revolves around solving riddles that require players to conduct out-of-game research online, making it feel more like a single-player ARG or trivia game rather than a traditional puzzle experience. While some riddles are logically engaging, others can feel disconnected and overly reliant on brute-force searching, leading to a repetitive experience. Overall, the unique integration of internet research into the gameplay is praised, though the lack of clear closure at the end can leave players feeling unsatisfied.
“It's a very unique puzzle game since not only does it not discourage looking for answers online - it uses internet search as its main mechanic.”
“I like how it combines external research into the gameplay, and it is especially fun to complete the puzzles with the help of friends.”
“The main gameplay loop consists of the game giving the player a riddle with text and/or images, the player doing out-of-game research on the internet to figure out the riddle, and then inputting their answer in-game.”
“85% of the gameplay is searching the web and reading things like wikis; the riddles are usually about finding the connection of real things/real sites or certain things on fake websites.”
“Sometimes there's a logic present which makes it more enjoyable; other times it's just like remembering someone's birthday is the same date a certain book was published, with neither subject having anything else in common, which becomes a bit obnoxious when you realize brute forcing the solution through exhaustive research was the only mechanic at play the entire time.”
- emotional5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be deeply immersive, with a balance of puzzles that enhances the narrative experience. The integration of real-world elements adds a layer of depth, making players feel connected to the story, while the challenging nature of the puzzles evokes a range of emotions, from satisfaction to frustration. Overall, the game is praised for its inventive and emotionally engaging design.
“Inventive, emotional, great, but sometimes brutally hard puzzle game.”
“The concept of a game that made you look up things within the real world just made me feel so deep in the story.”
“This further adds to the immersion, and made me feel like I was acting out a detective novel.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and unengaging, as it often involves researching topics that lack interest or relevance, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
“Despite it looking like it would be a fun mystery, what I ended up with was a tedious research session about topics I simply don't care about.”
“The grinding in this game feels endless and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“I found myself doing the same tasks over and over again, which quickly became boring and frustrating.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features no in-game purchases, indicating a monetization model that does not rely on additional spending beyond the initial purchase.
“In-game purchases: none”
“The game offers a fair monetization model that doesn't pressure players to spend money.”
“I appreciate that there are no paywalls, allowing everyone to enjoy the game equally.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The overall consensus indicates that the game's replayability is low, suggesting that players may not find sufficient motivation to revisit the experience after completing it.
“Replayability is low.”
“The game lacks incentives to play through again.”
“Once you've completed it, there's little reason to return.”
