The Eyes of Ara | Game Brain — video game discovery

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"The Eyes of Ara" is a puzzle-based exploration game where players uncover the mysteries of a forgotten castle. Interact with objects, decode intricate puzzles, and search for hidden secrets to restore the castle's lost grandeur. With stunning visuals and an immersive atmosphere, this game offers a captivating single-player experience for all puzzlers at heart.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

The Eyes of Ara screenshot

+8

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 495 reviews

story87 positive mentions

grinding23 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a captivating atmosphere that immerses players in the castle environment.
Puzzles are well-designed, offering a mix of easy and challenging tasks that require logical thinking and attention to detail.
The game includes a variety of collectibles and hidden items that encourage exploration and add depth to the gameplay.

Some puzzles can be overly obscure or frustrating, leading to confusion and reliance on walkthroughs to progress.
The game suffers from pixel hunting, where important items are hidden in hard-to-find locations, making it tedious to search every corner.
The controls can feel clunky, with a fixed camera system that limits movement and can lead to disorientation in navigating the castle.

story
205 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
54%
4%
The story in "The Eyes of Ara" is generally described as intriguing but often shallow, primarily conveyed through written notes and diary entries that players must discover throughout the game. While the atmosphere and visuals are praised, many reviewers feel the narrative lacks depth and can be convoluted, with some puzzles feeling disconnected from the story. Overall, the game offers a mix of compelling lore and engaging puzzles, but the storytelling may not satisfy those seeking a more immersive narrative experience.
- “The story is intriguing, with notes appearing from various characters, and unfolds seamlessly with the gameplay.”
- “You explore the mysterious castle solving puzzles to find the source of the signal, while collecting diary pages and other family memorabilia to discover the story of their disappearance.”
- “The story unfolds nicely through discovered journals and notes, and the puzzles themselves are mostly satisfying and fun.”
- “There's not much of a story, and what's there depends on reading pages which are too small to read easily even on a large screen.”
- “The story feels very much like an empty excuse the developers came up with to throw a bunch of puzzles at the player that don't make much sense from a 'real-life' perspective, rather than being an immersive, fully fleshed-out world like I was hoping for.”
- “The main difference from a narrative perspective is that the Eyes of Ara has a relatively shallow story that takes place entirely via written journals and such, never actually showing you an image of what the characters look like or revealing what happens to them... which I find somewhat hollow and disappointing.”
graphics
99 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
27%
3%
The graphics in "Eyes of Ara" receive generally positive feedback, with many players praising the beautiful artwork, detailed environments, and immersive atmosphere. However, some users noted issues with dim lighting and low-resolution textures that occasionally hinder gameplay. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong aspect of the game, enhancing the engaging story and challenging puzzles.
- “The graphics are stunning, the music is lovely, and the puzzles are just right.”
- “Beautiful graphics, challenging puzzles, and a cool mystery all within a huge, gorgeous castle ... just awesome.”
- “The graphics and detail are amazing and the gameplay kept me totally absorbed in the storyline.”
- “The 'outside graphics' look terrible though; get inside the house ASAP!”
- “Some of the puzzles require gigantic leaps of insight, while many important items are so well hidden that they're almost undetectable, even after changing the settings to make more of the graphics visible (in the default setting, everything is incredibly dark).”
- “I'm sure I could solve it eventually, but I don't really feel like it when the graphics and controls are dated, and some of the solutions are obtuse.”
gameplay
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
64%
6%
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of intriguing puzzles and exploration, with a strong emphasis on hidden-object mechanics that can lead to repetitive experiences. While many players appreciate the beautiful graphics and engaging story, some find the controls clunky and the reliance on pixel-hunting frustrating. Overall, the game offers a substantial amount of content, with gameplay times ranging from 10 to 28 hours, depending on the player's approach to puzzles and exploration.
- “Gameplay is streamlined, as explorative areas reveal themselves as needed.”
- “The story is intriguing, with notes appearing from various characters, and unfolds seamlessly with the gameplay.”
- “Lovely graphics, flawless mechanics, excellent gameplay, and overall a gem in the puzzle game point-and-click genre.”
- “The same basic mechanics are used throughout many puzzles as well, making it feel repetitive.”
- “A clunky click-and-drag mechanic, awkward item interfaces, and puzzles relying more on hidden keys than logical solutions.”
- “Getting towards the end though, the game just starts assuming the player has some very specific knowledge (not gained through gameplay) and provides no context or logical reasoning why a + b = c for certain puzzles.”
atmosphere
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
78%
14%
8%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and engaging qualities, enhanced by high-quality graphics and a fitting soundtrack. Players appreciate the intriguing story and the well-integrated puzzles that complement the atmospheric setting, particularly within the castle environment. Overall, the game successfully creates a captivating ambiance that keeps players invested, despite some minor criticisms regarding the soundtrack and occasional technical issues.
- “I enjoy the immersive atmosphere; the puzzles are both fun and challenging.”
- “The castle has a great atmosphere, and the plot is quite good, particularly the way it's presented via journal entries and notes written by the various members of the family at the center of the mystery.”
- “The atmosphere is well-constructed and fairly clever; while you might get lost at first, eventually, you start piecing together how all the rooms fit together and link.”
- “The atmosphere is also well-constructed and fairly clever -- while you might get lost at first, eventually, you start piecing together how all the rooms fit together and link.”
- “Story: text seems to be setting this up to be some kind of horror with a plot twist but the atmosphere seems against it the whole time and spoils that plot twist at the welcome mat.”
- “I really like the soundtrack which adds immensely to the enigmatic atmosphere this game.”
music
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
39%
8%
The music in the game is generally appreciated for enhancing the atmosphere, with many reviewers noting its suitability and quality, though some feel it lacks excitement and variety. While the soundtrack complements the stunning graphics and immersive environment, it is often described as subtle and occasionally repetitive, leading to mixed feelings about its overall impact. Overall, the music is seen as a pleasant addition, but not necessarily memorable enough to stand alone outside the game.
- “The graphics are stunning, the music is lovely, and the puzzles are just right.”
- “I really like the soundtrack which adds immensely to the enigmatic atmosphere this game.”
- “The production values were also solid, with crisp graphics, and music that was atmospheric enough to still be soothing even after several hours of playing.”
- “Music is few and far in between, playing only when a significant breakthrough is attained or scenery changed.”
- “Repetitive music.”
- “The only drawbacks are the lackluster story and soundtrack.”
grinding
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience, with many noting that while some puzzles are engaging, others become tedious due to excessive backtracking, pixel hunting, and the need to collect numerous hidden items. The game features a complex world that encourages exploration, but the difficulty and vagueness of certain puzzles can lead to frustration and reliance on walkthroughs. While some players appreciate the challenge, the repetitive nature of clue-finding and certain puzzle mechanics detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- “The 'hint' features are entirely necessary and yet not nearly sufficient to prevent tedious pixel hunting.”
- “I ultimately found that the excellent puzzles weren't enough to make up for the tedious clue-finding aspect.”
- “A great game that is marred only by some tedious solutions to puzzles late in the story.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while some players report smooth gameplay and good optimization even on older hardware, others have encountered significant bugs that hinder puzzle progression and cause freezes. Minor glitches, such as missing notifications and achievement triggers, have also been noted, but they appear to be less common.
- “Well optimized, runs great even on dated hardware.”
- “The gameplay is smooth and I experienced no glitches yet.”
- “Most puzzles in the game do not work this way--if you configure the correct solution, the game freezes and shows you what you unlocked.”
- “Great game atmospherically and all, but I've been having trouble with bugs and glitches - that is, a few major puzzles for me simply will not respond to being solved, making major puzzles and progressing anywhere in the game completely impossible for me.”
- “I only ran into two minor glitches - one notification ding was missing after correctly solving a puzzle, and the 'Amateur Astronomer' achievement needed me to re-pickup the same poster a few times before it would trigger.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be heartwarming and unique, with a compelling collectible tracker that drives them to explore every corner, evoking a sense of nostalgia and longing. However, the gameplay mechanics, such as 360-degree panning, can induce motion sickness, which detracts from the overall emotional experience.
- “I found this really heartwarming and it was presented in a way I've never seen before in any other games.”
- “The thought of going back through all the chapters trying to find that elusive orb makes me want to cry.”
- “The collectables tracker made me feel compelled to pixel hunt through every room, and by level 3, I had a walkthrough open.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well optimized, performing smoothly even on older hardware, which enhances accessibility for a wider range of players.
- “Well optimized, runs great even on dated hardware.”

71%Critics’ scoreBased on 5 critic reviews

Buy The Eyes of Ara

11h Median play time

9h Average play time

4-15h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 9 analyzed playthroughs

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