Qazaq: Son of the Sun

Alright. Qazaq: Son of the Sun is done and dusted. I can't say I'm well versed in Kazakhstan folklore, or really anything related to Kazakhstan overall outside of tidbits here and there. And while the devs are careful to let the player know that this is not an exact interpretation of Kazakhstan lore, I think there is enough there to be of interest. I would imagine people from the region will appreciate its familiarity, and people like me will appreciate learning some new things about the world we live in.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3414641790

The story set-up is laid out on the product page, so I'm not going to rehash that. Instead, I would like to focus a bit on the similarities in folklore shared between people with no obvious connections across the world. Much of what is presented in this game does feel familiar because of the things it shares with First Nations people's lore, lore from South America, and I would imagine from various other far-flung places. Which is very cool in my estimation and very much consistent with my real-life perspective about "pre-civilization/history", the Younger Dryas Event, and so on. And for something more recent, you could listen to the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels, and with only that as your foundation of information before playing this game, you will have a very real level of comfort and familiarity with the story presented in this game. This is basically a philosophical debate between good and evil, and in the end, good wins the day. Literally in this instance.

To that end, this is a voice acted game, where each sequence unlocked also unlocks part of the debate between the last Qazaq and Shaitan. And I personally thought the voice acting was well done. It's always on the cusp of taking things too far, over-acting, and such, but it never actually crosses that threshold. The graphics are similar to what you will find in lower budget walking simulators. Cool looking but very basic and utilizing a limited set of assets. It does work perfectly in context to the game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3414641624

And the gameplay is also mostly a walking simulator. You do have some zero stakes combat in the form of you using fire to destroy creatures of darkness. And you will use that same fire to light totems and a couple other things. These totems (and a couple other things) serve as the basis for unlocking the story and are in some instances minor timing and sequence puzzles. Nothing too complicated. The hardest part was figuring out the missing object to set on fire in one village, but it was pretty easy regardless. Additionally, you are equipped with a sacred stone that will guide you to the various objectives in the game, so it's not really possible to get lost. This game doesn't really want to challenge you too much. Rather, it prefers for you to enjoy the debate that makes up the bulk of the story. And it does a great job of doing so. I played using k/m, but there is no reason why you couldn't use a gamepad or Steam Deck. The controls are about as basic as can be.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3414641431

It took me right around an hour to complete this game, and I thought that was the perfect length for this experience. And the asking price of $1.99? That's an easy recommendation pricewise. This game does offer a cool experience more than worth that asking price. And in general, I'd say this is a game walking sim fans and fans of esoteric musings will likely enjoy. I really doubt there are many games based on Kazakhstan history and folklore out there, which is very definitely another selling point. Give it a look.

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Short game in which you light pillars to remove the dark entity over the world.

The gameplay is quite simple and straightforward. All you can do is walk, blast fireballs at light pillars, and destroy flying dark clouds. Although clouds can fly into you and obscure your vision, they are harmless. They also explode after one fireball.

As previously said, your duty is to light pillars throughout the world. The world is open because you can travel anywhere - except across water - but it is best to stick to the paths. Getting lost is impossible because you are holding a stone that lights up when you point the mouse cursor in the direction of an inactive pillars. Its range is infinite, so it will show a path to a pillar even if it is on the opposite side of the map.

The path usually leads to a few huts or another landmark with multiple pillars. There are no puzzles. The only thing that may take extra work is a group of pillars that must be lit quickly or in a precise order. Every time you light a group, you will hear a brief conversation between the hero and the dark entity.

The narration and the puzzles are the only things good in this game.
Negative aspects:
- The character moves to slowly even if you run
- You have no map to see where you have already been, so you can maybe need to do all the map one more time to search for a missing puzzle