Ionia

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"Ionia" is a single-player, music-inspired interactive story game where players join siblings on a quest to save a mythical creature, the Harpa, whose home is being destroyed by an approaching army. Gameplay features music-based magic, and interactions impact the lush forest environment. Five percent of proceeds go to the Steve & Terri Irwin Foundation, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, supporting real-world wildlife conservation efforts.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 96 reviews

story6 positive mentions

gameplay4 negative mentions

The game features stunning visuals and sound design, creating a beautiful and immersive environment.
It offers a heartwarming experience with a positive message about wildlife conservation, making it suitable for kids and new VR players.
The integration of music and simple puzzles adds a creative touch to the exploration, enhancing the overall experience.

The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including poor controls, glitches, and a lack of polish, making it feel unfinished.
Gameplay is very short, lasting about an hour, which leaves players feeling like they experienced more of a demo than a full game.
The locomotion mechanics are clunky and restrictive, primarily relying on teleportation, which detracts from the exploration of the beautiful environments.

story
28 mentions
21 % positive mentions
68 % neutral mentions
11 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally praised for its engaging narrative and immersive environments, particularly in VR, where players can interact with the world. However, some reviewers found the story to be brief and lacking depth, with easy puzzles that feel more like transitions between story segments. While the voice acting received positive remarks, there were mixed feelings about certain plot elements, leading to a somewhat uneven reception of the overall narrative experience.
- “Incredible VR story!”
- “It's a story you can actually look around and touch things.”
- “I played this game with my kids watching the screen, they got really absorbed in the story!”
- “I was expecting something else to do, I guess. It's a lot like a story with just a couple of puzzle parts in it that won't take long to complete (87 mins).”
- “I barely got into the story before it was over.”
- “Story holds no interest and suddenly some half-naked dude comes talking to you; stuff happens.”
graphics
24 mentions
50 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their high quality and captivating environments, with many reviewers noting the stunning visuals and sound design. However, issues such as low resolution graphics, poor controls, and immersion-breaking glitches detract from the overall experience, leading to calls for more polish and bug fixes. While the potential for a great visual experience is acknowledged, technical shortcomings currently hinder its full appreciation.
- “Graphically, the game is absolutely jaw dropping.”
- “Graphical rendering of the fantasy environments is captivating and it is worth taking time to explore nooks and crannies and to look around and absorb the full VR impact of the experience.”
- “This game is gorgeous, both visuals and sound/music!”
- “But the really poor controls, immersion-breaking glitches, and pretty low-res graphics means I can't recommend.”
- “Played on a Quest 2 via Air Link... more time needed to be spent on polish; the graphics were lacking!”
- “Graphics options just gave numbers for the settings, and setting the resolution above 1 broke the game, I discovered, for the G2.”
music
22 mentions
36 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its stunning quality and integration into the gameplay, featuring music theory-themed puzzles and immersive sound design. Players appreciate the creative incorporation of musical elements into the environment, enhancing the overall experience. The combination of beautiful visuals and captivating audio makes it a standout aspect of the game.
- “The music tracks are absolutely stunning!”
- “This game is gorgeous, both visuals and sound/music!”
- “The only good things in it are the environment and creature design, sound, and music.”
- “Game play includes a few musical puzzles, and looking for items (which are not hard to find) is necessary to progress.”
- “The way music and musical instruments are integrated into the world is breathtaking, from animals with saxophone-like snouts to playable instruments used to solve puzzles.”
gameplay
12 mentions
0 % positive mentions
67 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
The gameplay is marred by typical VR mechanic flaws, including janky movement and poorly timed transitions to cutscenes, which detract from immersion. Players find the puzzles and climbing mechanics to be overly simplistic and lacking challenge, leading to an overall unsatisfactory experience. Despite some redeeming qualities, the gameplay is generally considered unenjoyable.
- “Annoying and very common transitions from gameplay to cutscenes happen in the wrong place, making the character talk to you while staring somewhere else.”
- “And the gameplay itself is not enjoyable: there is no challenge in puzzles or climbing, so all that's left is exploration, which is ruined by the aforementioned clunky movement and forced cutscenes.”
- “The climbing mechanic and the movement just feel janky.”
stability
8 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is criticized for being poor and unpolished, with numerous bugs, glitches, and performance issues that detract from the overall experience. While some minor glitches can be resolved with workaround methods, the overall impression is that the game suffers from immersion-breaking problems and low-quality graphics, leading to a lack of recommendation from users.
- “Just all around bad and unpolished game: from childish dialogues and braindead puzzles to buggy interactions and poor performance.”
- “But the really poor controls, immersion-breaking glitches, and pretty low-res graphics means I can't recommend.”
- “Some minor glitches with VR 'boundaries' (black screen view) usually resolved by reversing backwards, back into the scene.”
optimization
6 mentions
0 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
67 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting poor performance and low frame rates, particularly on high-end hardware like the RX 6900 XT. Many describe the overall experience as unpolished, citing buggy interactions and lackluster gameplay elements.
- “Performance on G2 / RX 6900 XT is very low (30 FPS at 45% resolution, really?)”
- “Performance is horrible.”
- “Just all around bad and unpolished game: from childish dialogues and braindead puzzles to buggy interactions and poor performance.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players consistently describe the emotional aspect of the game as a "heartwarming" experience, appealing to gamers of all ages. This sentiment highlights the game's ability to evoke positive feelings and foster a sense of connection among its audience.
- “Overall a heartwarming experience for game players of all ages.”