Nairi: Rising Tide

Nairi: Rising Tide is a solid, if slightly inferior, sequel that expands the world established in Tower Of Shirin. Some slow load screens and difficult-to-discernible items shouldn't hamper your overall enjoyment too much, especially if you loved the first entry. The tricksy puzzles are great, though you may need to shell out for hints. And while you might feel like you're wading through the story at times, there's enough narrative thread to pull you through to a tense ending. No spoilers but the final moments left us already keen to know what Nairi, Shiro, and their friends get up to next.

Nairi: Rising Tide is a beautiful game. The background art showcases how gorgeous an area is, and it gives so much life to the characters. The writing is hilarious, and it makes the characterisation display every positive and negative trait of everyone. But, even with that, art and writing cannot carry a game alone, as the puzzles become too puzzling, and some of the themes and world-building don't feel explored enough. Its hint system is mostly unhelpful, causing frustration rather than satisfaction. If Nairi is to have another entry, HomeBearStudio will hopefully learn from its mistakes.

I went into it fully anticipating an underwhelmingly average experience, but instead it surprised me! This was so much fun to play, and I felt so engaged with the story and the characters. It helped me slow down and just appreciate the little moments, rather than needing lots of real-time action to keep me entertained.

Like the first game, Nairi: Rising Tide proves to be a point-and-click adventure game full of charm. The art style and humor do a good job of contrasting with the more serious parts of the story. The puzzles can be real brain teasers, and while the hint system is cute, the ability to skip the puzzle dungeons ensures that frustrating moments remain few and far between. It's a good adventure game overall, but here's hoping that the next entry in what's supposed to be a four-part game doesn't take another six years to develop.

Nairi: Rising Tide is a solid successor to Tower Of Shirin. The graphic style now contains even more details and the story and the world contain a lot of depth for a game with childish characters. The puzzles are cleverly designed and the various tools are used cleverly here. It is therefore a great pity that the story is sometimes quite difficult to follow and the dialogues are on the long side. In any case, the makers know how to end the games in an exciting way and it makes us curious about what the next part will bring us.

This follow-up takes the ball from the original game in the series and runs hard towards greater success with it

A solid sequel that expands on the world of NAIRI

It’s been six years since the first game surprised us. Home Bear Studio has been hard at work making the sequel NAIRI: Rising Tide another wonderful entry. So much attention to detail, giving instructions and hints in beautiful drawings. Lovely hand-drawn scenes and relatable characters. Wonderfully intricate puzzles and a storyline that could easily carry the story by itself. I love this game so much that I decided to buy the first one on Switch at a very attractive price as well. If you love puzzles combined with a great story, go for NAIRI: Rising Tide!