Apple Arcade review #12: ATONE

Image credit: Steam store page

I didn’t play ATONE long enough to do it justice, and I would have liked to return to it if I wasn’t so conflicted. On the one hand: it’s a beautiful game. The 2D pixel art is outstanding, and the music is lovely. There’s a lot of text, but it seems well-written, though I didn’t get a good grasp of the narrative. It takes time to get into, and the game is heavy with lore. The Norse mythology setting feels fresh; there’s enough of a twist to it to make it stand out.

On the other hand: I really couldn’t master the rhythm-action combat system. The learning curve is steep and I felt completely out of my depths. It’s a shame; I wanted to keep playing, but it was infuriating. Maybe it’s better with a game controller? I only tried this with a touch-screen, because it felt well suited to that. With 100+ games to review, it’s hard to give every game the time it deserves. But I’m not sure I would have had the patience to push through even if I wasn’t doing this project.

Still, if pixel-art, great music, well-written words and a rhythm-based combat system sounds interesting, give this a try. I’m very sure that this would have gotten a lot more attention if it’d been released on Steam.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/no/app/atone-heart-of-the-elder-tree/id1450096689