Tessa's Ark

About Tessa's Ark

Tessa's Ark is a single player role playing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Andrew Higgins and was released on February 26, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

A Sci-fi RPG set in a world where humans have shed the limitations of the corporeal body to inhabit existence as beings of pure thought. Solve puzzles to unlock the secrets of the digital reality.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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Reviews

70%Audience ScoreBased on 44 reviews

story4 positive mentions

Unique and memorable art style with vibrant, colorful 2D character art and pleasant music that creates a relaxing atmosphere.
The game offers interesting and accessible math-based puzzles that provide a light intellectual challenge, suitable for puzzle and achievement hunters.
Thought-provoking sci-fi narrative exploring themes like perception, reality, and human consciousness, appealing to players interested in philosophical storytelling.

The story is overly confusing and feels rushed due to having only one chapter available, with excessive jargon and unclear plot development making it difficult to follow.
Gameplay suffers from clunky UI/UX, unintuitive controls, and a poorly integrated or missing RPG/stat leveling system, leading to frustrating puzzle navigation and unclear mechanics.
Repetitive and monotonous puzzle gameplay with little content, causing a lack of engagement; the game has not been updated for years and feels incomplete and abandoned.

story
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25% positive mentions, 56% neutral mentions, 19% negative mentions
The story is praised for its intriguing and complex themes, philosophical depth, and strong art style, particularly appealing to players with a solid background in math and programming. However, it is also criticized for feeling rushed, difficult to follow without close attention, and overly reliant on jargon without sufficient explanation, leading to a fragmented and confusing narrative experience. Overall, it suits players seeking a puzzle-focused game more than a richly developed story-driven experience.
- “The story is brilliant, the characters are amazing, and the puzzles are somewhat hard to understand but not laborious.”
- “Behind the weak elements of role-playing is a complex story that philosophizes on many inconspicuous topics such as life, mental abilities, and the goal of humanity to develop without a specific goal.”
- “This game is amazing; the story and the art style are genuinely stunning.”
- “It's unclear how many chapters were originally intended to be included in the game; however, with only 1 chapter available, the story feels overwhelmingly rushed and chaotic.”
- “Additionally, due to the overuse of jargon and no in-game glossary, much of the story will fly overhead unless you have a strong understanding of or familiarity with coding, programming, and mathematics.”
- “Too many words are used to explain the same small amount of storyline that exists.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions
The game's graphics receive mixed feedback, with praise for its bold, vibrant, and unique 2D character art and overall visual presentation, which many find stunning. However, critics note the outdated, lackluster 2D visuals used for the UI, puzzles, and text, expressing disappointment that the game doesn't utilize modern 3D graphics. Despite this, the colorful art style offers an appealing and refreshing look that enhances the game's atmosphere.
- “First off, the art and graphics are really nice, as is the whole presentation and atmosphere.”
- “This game is amazing, the story and the artstyle are genuinely stunning.”
- “Why: this game offers a pretty unique artwork of the characters.”
- “The game features really lacklustre 2D visuals (does the developer not know 3D graphics became mainstream in the mid-1990s?).”
- “Thankfully, the bold and vibrant 2D stylized character art is a refreshing respite from the outdated graphics used for the UI, puzzles, and text.”
- “Gamers don't spend thousands of dollars on gaming rigs and the latest 3D graphics cards to play 2D games.”
gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43% positive mentions, 14% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions
The gameplay involves logical thinking and skill management but lacks clarity due to the absence of an expected RPG stat system, creating confusion. While it requires thoughtful planning, the experience becomes monotonous and limited in scope.
- “Gameplay is good, requires you to think about what you're about to do.”
- “After finishing the first chapter, the gameplay consists mainly of logical thinking and adding and subtracting skills.”
- “The tutorial gives some introduction, but guessing and exploring the puzzle mechanic logic was its own puzzle.”
- “Further compounding the confusion during gameplay is the alleged "RPG stat tracking and leveling system" that the developer touts but seemingly removed or excluded in the final version of the game (despite it being implied graphically in-game to exist).”
- “The tutorial gives some introduction, but guessing/exploring the puzzle mechanic logic was its own puzzle.”
- “After finishing the first chapter, we finish the gameplay, which consists mainly of logical thinking and adding and subtracting skills (this is more or less how the gameplay looks like).”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The atmosphere is praised for its appealing art and graphics, contributing to an overall well-crafted and immersive presentation.