Mask of Mists

I have a soft spot for small studios that pick one thing to do well and actually do it. 9 Eyes Game Studio, working out of Russia, made Mask of Mists with that exact mindset: a first-person adventure focused almost entirely on exploration and environmental puzzle-solving, dressed up in a vibrant, almost cartoon-bright fantasy world. It is not trying to be Skyrim. It is not trying to be Myst. It sits somewhere quietly between the two, and that modesty is mostly a virtue. The premise is paper-thin by design. You are a mercenary hired to track down a missing Archmage somewhere in the Infected Territory, a magically corrupted region where creatures from a place called the Abyss have been slipping through a weakened barrier. That is the entire story setup, and the game barely elaborates beyond it. What fills the gap is the Archmage's scattered journal notes, which you collect as you explore. Finding a new page and piecing together what this doomed researcher was thinking genuinely adds low-key atmosphere to the world. It is environmental storytelling at its most minimal, but it works. The introduction is flat and the ending swings anticlimactic, which are real criticisms, but the middle hours carry their own quiet momentum. The core loop is: explore the labyrinthine overworld, locate one of six dungeons, solve the puzzles inside, activate a navigation crystal at the end, and use what you found to unlock the next area. The navigation crystals are a small but thoughtful mechanic, letting you exit a cleared dungeon instantly rather than backtracking through it. Puzzles lean toward item-fetching and environmental triggers, collecting bird statuettes, placing stone masks, reading clues in adjacent rooms. Nothing will stump a patient player for long, but the satisfaction of picking up an item and realizing it opens a path you spotted twenty minutes ago is real. The world is small enough to cross in two minutes, which means backtracking never becomes a drag. There is no in-game map, and that absence is intentional. It forces you to actually pay attention, which suits the pacing. Combat exists and is the weakest part. You acquire a sword early and a pistol soon after, and can dual-wield both. The three enemy types, purple mushrooms, jellyfish, and blobs, are easy to read once you know the jellyfish cast slowing magic from a distance. Killing enemies yields nothing, healing potions are plentiful, and the final boss is a pattern you will solve on the first or second attempt. If you come to Mask of Mists wanting a combat challenge, you are looking at the wrong game entirely. Come for the world geometry and the puzzle sequencing. Visually, the overworld leans into bright, almost garish color to sell its magical atmosphere, while the dungeons shift to darker, earthier tones that genuinely feel more claustrophobic. The art has a slightly cel-shaded quality that punches above the budget. The soundtrack is limited in variety and defaults low in the audio settings, worth turning up manually because what is there fits the mood. No voice acting anywhere, which suits the spare, wordless tone. Runtime sits consistently at four to six hours depending on puzzle pace, and there are two endings gated by a manual save point before the final area, worth knowing in advance if you care about the achievement list. Kai, Scout Team