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Once Glorious Artahk

Once Glorious Artahk Game Cover
83%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, gameplay
Most mentioned negative aspects:grinding
95% User Score Based on 39 reviews

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Once Glorious Artahk Game Cover

About Once Glorious Artahk

Once Glorious Artahk is a single player casual puzzle game with fantasy, mystery and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Bismuth Tales and was released on November 18, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

In Once Glorious Artahk, you’ll explore the ruins of the ancient city of Artahk in search of a way to save the world from an endless night. Solve a variety of different puzzles to unlock new paths, abilities, and forgotten lore, then read the lost stories you uncover to gain insight into a tangled web of mysteries. Using only your wits and your trusty torch to guide you, you must find a way to ret…

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Once Glorious Artahk screenshot
Once Glorious Artahk screenshot
Once Glorious Artahk screenshot
Once Glorious Artahk screenshot
Once Glorious Artahk screenshot
Once Glorious Artahk screenshot
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Reviews

95%Audience ScoreBased on 39 reviews
story10 positive mentions
grinding3 negative mentions
  • Deep and engaging lore with well-written story and worldbuilding that motivates exploration and puzzle solving.
  • Challenging and satisfying puzzles that encourage note-taking, observation, and critical thinking with rewarding 'aha' moments.
  • Atmospheric music and art style that complement the mysterious and immersive setting, enhancing the overall experience.
  • Navigation can be frustrating early on due to maze-like areas, lack of distinctive landmarks, and initially no map, leading to potential disorientation.
  • The 'Beast' enemy mechanic can be irritating, interrupting puzzle solving; although it can be disabled, some players found it immersion-breaking.
  • The font and text presentation can be hard to read at times, and the game’s heavy reliance on reading and note-taking may not appeal to all players.

  • story

    26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 12% negative mentions

    The story is praised for its rich, immersive world-building and engaging, epic fantasy narrative that unfolds through exploration, puzzles, and journal entries. While the non-linear storytelling and early world-building can feel slow for some, the overall lore depth and character development keep players invested. The narrative complements the gameplay well, making the story a standout aspect, especially considering it's crafted by a solo developer.

    • “The storytelling alone makes this game well worth the purchase, let alone the fact that it's all coming from a solo dev.”
    • “The game does a great job of setting up a world and story that leaves you curious to keep learning more, motivating the puzzle solving and exploration.”
    • “Without spoilers, the game has an epic fantasy story that reminded me the most of Richard Adams' work, and also Lois McMaster Bujold's Five Gods series to an extent, with some cosmic horror elements.”
    • “The 3rd act suffers for this: I was not nearly as engaged by the story, and the final climax definitely could have been presented better.”
    • “I found early journal entries to be boring as they focused too much on world-building before introducing the characters and storylines needed to care enough to read dozens of pages learning about the world.”
    • “Long story of once glorious Artahk is unfolded as we persist on looking and reading for hints and details.”

  • gameplay

    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 55% neutral mentions, 15% negative mentions

    The gameplay centers around varied and unique puzzles, including innovative mechanics like discovering words to unlock lore, rewarding players who engage deeply with the story. While the game offers minimal hand-holding and can feel repetitive toward the end, mechanics such as the beast feature add challenge without obstructing progress. Overall, the gameplay gradually evolves and balances difficulty with exploration, though some mechanics may feel less polished or frustrating to certain players.

    • “The puzzles themselves are quite varied, with a few staple mechanics (such as the classic laser reflection with twists, of course), but the majority of puzzle mechanics are unique.”
    • “I personally like the beast mechanic and never felt like I couldn't progress because of it.”
    • “Discovering words that unlock lore entries is a unique gameplay mechanic; never seen it before and I like that.”
    • “But I wished it had some more tracks, because near the end of my gameplay it started feeling repetitive.”
    • “Nothing in the limited lore I found suggests an immortality or respawn mechanic, so it seems to just be there to be an obstacle and some 'spooky' lore while fully realizing that that sort of mechanic in an exploration/puzzle game is a frustrating experience.”
    • “Imo it is the only annoying and not well-thought-out mechanic of the game, but you will see.”

  • music

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    63% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and atmosphere, with many tracks being memorable and enhancing the overall experience. It effectively complements the game's world and story, creating an immersive and engaging adventure.

    • “The music is gorgeous, the writing is superb, and I was enraptured for the 20-some hours it took me to beat the game.”
    • “The OST is nice and creates the perfect atmosphere for this adventure.”
    • “The music is great and honestly reminds me of Skyrim; this makes exploring and piecing the puzzles together infinitely better.”

  • atmosphere

    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game excels in creating a captivating dark fantasy atmosphere, enhanced by its immersive lore, fitting soundtrack, and art. Players feel truly immersed as they explore the mysterious city, with the unnerving ambiance intensifying in the late game. This strong atmospheric design is widely regarded as one of the game's greatest strengths.

    • “This game nails the atmosphere, making it feel like you're an archaeologist trying to decipher the mystery of the city of Artahk.”
    • “The game's greatest strength is its fantastic atmosphere, deepened by the unbelievably well-written lore entries that motivate you to keep going.”
    • “Also, the lore and the atmosphere are a very captivating dark fantasy.”

  • grinding

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game involves repetitive puzzle-solving and backtracking, particularly in areas like the royal parterre, which some players found a bit tedious. However, engaging writing and overall design kept the experience from becoming frustrating.

    • “The other area for improvement is that some of the areas (especially Royal Parterre) require you to redo the same puzzles over and over to switch between traversal paths, which ended up being a little tedious.”
    • “Backtracking can be a little tedious at times, but it never got bad enough to really frustrate me.”

  • graphics

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The graphics feature detailed and impressive art style with well-designed levels that are visually distinct and comfortably dim without being harsh on the eyes. Beautiful cinematic artwork and thoughtful use of darkness enhance the immersive experience throughout the game.

    • “The writing, art style, and level design are all really detailed and impressive so far.”
    • “The lore is well-written and engaging (and there's a lot of it!), the artwork is beautiful (especially the big cinematic art pieces), and each zone of the map I've found so far has been pretty distinct (and the darkness, of which there is a lot, has never felt too dark).”
    • “The art style is comfortable, dim, and keeps my attention without burning my retinas.”
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Once Glorious Artahk is a casual puzzle game with fantasy, mystery and dark fantasy themes. Common tags for Once Glorious Artahk include indie, 2d, exploration, pixel graphics, atmospheric and others.

Once Glorious Artahk is available on PC, Windows and Linux.

Once Glorious Artahk was released on November 18, 2025.

Once Glorious Artahk was developed by Bismuth Tales.

Once Glorious Artahk has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked Once Glorious Artahk for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Once Glorious Artahk is a single player game.