DaRmaZat Quern – Undying Thoughts is an atmospheric puzzle adventure game that obviously follows in the footsteps of Myst and, perhaps less familiar to younger gamers, the later entries in the Zork series, my absolute genre favorite. Now that the Switch version is finally releasing on October 6, I thought it was about time to take a closer look at the PC version, which originally released way back in 2016.
Quern embraces the classic puzzle island formula made famous by Myst. You arrive on a mysterious, deserted isle after passing through a portal. As you clear your vision and get back on your feet, you hear the portal closing behind you. You’re trapped, and your way back is gone. From there, you explore the island, examine strange machinery, and follow written logs left behind by a previous researcher as you try to uncover what happened here and why your presence on the island matters.
A bit unfortunately, and to the detriment of variety, since you never leave the island, you are always in the same environment, apart from a section within some tunnels and a brief section where you are plunged underwater. The story is told through these written logs, read by a narrator, and later on, the talking is done by a flying green orb that also fills in the story through a few narrative sequences. Ultimately, though, it remains a rather thin story and mostly feels like filler for what the gameplay actually comes down to: thinking, deducing, and experimenting until you find that rewarding solution!
There are a few good puzzles in this game, with some references to well-known puzzle games and brainteasers such as Mastermind, Sudoku, and crosswords. Right from the beginning, it becomes clear that you will mainly be busy observing, rotating, combining, or otherwise manipulating objects, with strange machines and their mechanisms playing a central role. While solving the riddles, you’ll be listening to some definitely relaxing music, giving it that same calm, slightly nostalgic feel you get from classic game soundtracks.
Quern also reuses certain puzzle mechanics, meaning you have to apply principles you’ve learned earlier to new situations as you unlock more areas, often in increasingly complex ways. That initial cleverness and ingenuity loses quite a bit of its shine as you progress, though. While items from your inventory automatically snap into the correct position in a puzzle simply by clicking on them, taking away some of the satisfaction of figuring out where and how an item should be used, the puzzles themselves are actually quite difficult to execute and sometimes even feel artificially stretched out.
Very often, you quickly understand exactly what you need to do and how. But it can still be such a tedious, lengthy process to actually get there, with all the repetitive actions and trial-and-error that come in between. Quantity over quality also becomes increasingly apparent, as finally completing one puzzle often means being thrown straight into another variation of the same idea, only this time in a slightly harder version. Every now and then, that approach can really get on your nerves.
As for the controls, I don’t have many complaints, as they work reasonably intuitively and follow the usual genre conventions. The only thing I found somewhat awkward was the Free Mouse Mode, in which you can no longer move around but can only use your hands. Having to constantly switch between this view and the normal movement mode via the right mouse button – for example, when you need to check or manipulate something on the other side of the puzzle area – feels somewhat disruptive. This is purely because there is no clear zoom-in when entering this mode, so visually it looks exactly the same, meaning you barely notice that you are in Free Mouse Mode while the camera can suddenly no longer be freely rotated.
Performance-wise, however, Quern runs very smoothly. Naturally, with the PC version already approaching its tenth anniversary, the visuals look a little older by now. But they still hold up reasonably well, and it’s nice to see the game coming to Switch, as that platform should be more than capable of handling it. Unfortunately, this PC version still has no AZERTY keyboard support, and the directional controls still cannot be rebound.
Final Thoughts
Quern – Undying Thoughts is a decent puzzle adventure that runs smoothly and definitely makes you think, so hardcore puzzle fans will certainly find something to enjoy here. Still, the game is not on the same level as Myst, as it leans a little too heavily into the quantity-over-quality approach. There are definitely a number of weaker riddles that the game could easily have done without, while the story is also rather thin.
Additional Information
Release Date: November 28, 2016 (Nintendo Switch: October 6, 2026)
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Zadbox Entertainment
Publisher: Blue Brain Games, Zadbox Entertainment
Relevant Links: Available on Steam.
