Mesmer

About

Mesmer is a single player open world role playing game. It was developed by Rain Games and was released on October 16, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

A unique revolution simulator where every encounter matters. Mesmer! The pearl of the old world. At least it used to be. But this city has failed its people. Unite the people, spark a revolution and storm the castle. Build a better Mesmer.

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72%

Audience ScoreBased on 29 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Unique and refreshing gameplay combining strategy, adventure, and social survival elements with a bright, colorful fully 3D-rendered world and rich lore.
Excellent atmospheric music that varies by district and effectively enhances the tone and immersion of the game.
Challenging gameplay that rewards player persistence and exploration, offering a mentally stimulating puzzle-like experience with political intrigue, character interaction, and varied mechanics such as breaking in, blackmail, speeches, and riding a hog.

Lack of tutorial and minimal hand-holding lead to a steep learning curve, excessive vagueness, and initial frustration for many players who struggle to understand game mechanics and objectives.
Various bugs and technical issues including occasional softlocks, black screens, UI clutter, long initial load times, and performance problems detract from a smooth experience.
Repetitive fetch quests, poorly communicated mission objectives, unclear map routing, overly punishing night stealth sections, and no new game plus or save checkpoint system reduce replay value and accessibility.

story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The story is richly woven through fragmented gossip, NPC missions, and time-managed fetch quests that reveal a complex political and social narrative. While engaging and atmospheric with well-crafted characters and a living world, the gameplay's lack of tutorials, repetitive missions, and time pressure can hinder accessibility and immersion. Overall, the story is compelling but requires patience and effort to fully discover and appreciate.
- “Once you have overcome that difficulty, the city is yours, leaving you fairly open to fully explore and discover the story, which is fragmented into gossip and rumors from character to character and has to be collected by the player and assembled piece by piece before it starts to come together, weave a cohesive narrative, and finally reveal its richness.”
- “The city has a lot to offer and while the quests might be very fetchy, they tell interesting stories and are not trivial in a sense that everything is tied to time as a resource, so even trivial quests might not be that trivial if you know that you have a lot of time to spend for them.”
- “The gameplay is interesting enough, but the real shining star here are the story, characters and the world, all beautifully crafted and presented.”
- “The same NPCs in the same places offering the same missions and stories.”
- “Lack of tutorial is one thing, making the gameplay predominately fetch quests is another and leaves the gameplay pretty dull.”
- “Unfortunately, the game is bogged down by poor controls and arbitrarily timed quests alongside needless time management.”
gameplay
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
56%
19%
The gameplay receives mixed feedback, praised for its innovative mechanics like the grapple hook and political influence system but criticized for lack of clear tutorials, unclear objectives, and frustrating resource mechanics. While the core gameplay loop can feel dull due to repetitive fetch quests and bugs, the unique design ideas and overall concept are appreciated, especially as part of a richly crafted world and story.
- “The grapple hook mechanic is also very nifty and is very well outlined by the blue borders on the mini map.”
- “The mechanics itself are easy to understand, find ways to influence people to do your bidding and increase your influence in Mesmer.”
- “The core mechanic of spinning dials and trying to quickly click them when they're on the right number, plus spending precious resources to increase the odds and not getting those resources back if you fail, feels bad and needs a complete overhaul.”
- “Lack of tutorial is one thing, making the gameplay predominately fetch quests is another and leaves the gameplay pretty dull.”
- “And of course the game should have been a bit more player-friendly in explaining how its mechanics work and be more clear at times in cluing the player into where to go and what to do.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
22%
22%
The music in the game is consistently praised as excellent and fantastic, with a varied and masterfully executed soundtrack by Jorn Lavoll. Players appreciate its high quality, often highlighting it as a standout feature alongside the game's art style.
- “The music, like the rest of Rain's games, is excellent.”
- “Once again Jorn Lavoll delivers a truly varied soundtrack, masterfully executed.”
- “An amazing concept spiced with some great art-style and music!”
- “Music?”
- “And finally the music.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game features fully 3D rendered, bright, and colorful graphics with a unique art style that may feel unusual initially but ultimately stands out. While the visuals evoke a nostalgic, early-to-mid 2000s console game vibe and contribute to the game's charm, some issues with guard visibility and light radius mechanics can affect gameplay clarity. Overall, the graphics effectively enhance the game's distinctive and idea-rich design.
- “The graphics are fully 3D rendered, bright and colorful.”
- “Mesmer is a rough diamond in the best tradition of early-to-mid oughts console games I remember with great fondness (the same era is also evoked by the visuals) - janky but idea-rich with interesting design ideas that don't neatly fall into pre-existing gameplay formulas.”
- “Graphics?”
- “At first one might not be used to the more obtuse (unusual compared to other games) graphics and renditions, but once you look past that, it really sells itself well.”
- “It is very easy to avoid the guards, (and avoid being caught while chased) but sometimes their light source radius isn't telegraphed enough or it seems as if they see me when I'm several stories down (looking at you Canaries area / Aesthetica stairs); additionally, if I don't have the hog or a grappling hook, I don't think you can escape unless you make it to the under-city, which can be difficult in itself.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game experiences notable stability issues, including frequent bugs when accessing menus during cutscenes and persistent black screen problems. However, despite these glitches, it has still managed to capture user interest.
- “Unfortunately, the game is very buggy, even just by opening the menu in different cutscenes.”
- “It is a bit buggy; currently I have a black screen that does not resolve when I try to continue my game.”
- “Despite the buggy nature of the game, it has caught my attention enough that I will try it again on Monday.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its distinct, immersive ambiance unique to each district and faction, effectively conveying their beliefs and tone. However, while the theme and story enhance the mood, the overall environment can feel unwelcoming and challenging to the player.
- “Atmospheric, unique to each district and definitely carries the tone of each faction and their respective beliefs.”
- “I love the theme, the atmosphere, the story... it's just so unfriendly to the player.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is praised for staying true to Rain Games' established world-building, with well-designed characters that enhance the story. Players appreciate the opportunity to connect with the inhabitants of the city, adding depth to the experience.
- “Additionally, if you're familiar with Teslagrad and World to the West, the character design is a return to form and stays true to the world-building that Rain Games has done.”
- “I appreciate the character designs and I love how you get to know the people of the city.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report minor performance issues on mid-range PCs, indicating that the game's optimization could be improved for smoother gameplay on such hardware.
- “I did have some performance issues.”
- “Joke aside, there is a bit of a performance issue on my PC (i5-6400 + GT1050 Ti).”