Finally, here it is. My highly anticipated pseudo-review of Chains of Satinav! (end sarcasm here).
Chains of Satinav is a traditional point and click adventure game from Daedalic Entertainment, the makers of other fun but imperfect adventure games such as the Deponia series. Unlike other adventure games, Chains of Satinav is based on an established fantasy setting, The Dark Eye, from which it draws inspiration for characters, events, names and locations. It is not necessary by any means to have any previous knowledge of The Dark Eye to play and enjoy this game, it's not an RPG and the lore elements are minimal.
Chains of Satinav is known for its detailed art style. We basically play through a series of digital paintings and for that reason alone it might be worth playing. It also has some fun puzzles and a serviceable but entertaining storyline. Now the bad: this is very much a Daedalic adventure game, i.e. dislikable main character, awkward voice acting, stiff animations, and a few obscure illogical puzzles. If you can get past the emotionless brick passing as main character, the saturday morning cartoon voices, jerky animations and a select group of disconnected puzzles, then you are in for a fun little adventure in the vein of the classic LucasArts or Sierra games. That said, some events, lines and locations are truly memorable, and the game does have a bunch of clever ideas that, in my opinion, do in fact redeem the awkward bits.
Thematically, it plays with the ever present idea of predestination and fate, illustrated by the figure of the deity Satinav, chained to the "ship of time" for attempting to interfere with his own destiny. There's a powerful seer who once accumulated power and brought forth plague and violence, so he was erm... taken care of. This one child was present during his... caretaking, and he grows up to be a strapping young bird catcher who can break fragile objects with a weak magical spell. He is considered to be bad luck and people don't exactly like him. But time has passed since the seer was last seen and the presence of crows may be a sign of his return. Quickly a series of events is unleashed and, of course, a long trip is in order for the bird catcher. The ending seemed to be a bit inconclusive, but I believe there is a second part (Memoria) that I may just have to play.
All in all a fun classic adventure game, with a charming atmosphere and an entertaining story that happens to be good enough to keep you playing. Hope Memoria will be on sale soon!