100 Stones Interactive's The Eyes of Ara, which has just been released on Steam, feels like a trip down memory lane in a lot of ways. It follows a traditional solitary, first-person, node-based design approach to adventure gaming, having you explore an unknown place while solving puzzles and uncovering the back story in the process. Call it a Myst-like if you're feeling ungenerous. It's also fairly pretty and, considering that it's basically a one-man project, rather impressive overall. The beautiful beginning of the game in particular really makes you want to explore this mysterious place and discover its manifold secrets.
I'm an hour or so into the game, and the difficulty has ramped up quite a bit. Some of these puzzles had me scratching my head in confusion already. I kind of wish that they were more logical sometimes. But then, I guess the game is aiming for a sense of wonder and exploration, rather than satisfying your desire for real-world puzzle logic, so please do suspend your disbelief for a while and I reckon you'll get along nicely.

The Eyes of Ara is available for $14.99 on Steam and the Humble Store. For more information, you can visit the game's website or follow the developer on Twitter.

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