The Touryst (2019)

The Touryst won't let you relax. Instead, the developers have prepared for you a 5-hour story full of puzzles, challenges and even mini-games across 8 colorful environments.

Even with the occasional tricky platforming section The Touryst is an absolute joy to play. There's a diverse range of puzzles and silly mini-games for you to discover and have an absolute blast with. It's a delightful bite-sized adventure that, just like a real holiday, is likely to leave you with fond memories and wishing you could spend more time there.

The Touryst was a surprise hit that kept me coming back for more as I delved deeper into the puzzles and adventure. There are some frustrating sequences, particularly the more complex platform puzzles where the camera angle can be a bit of a nuisance.

'The Touryst' offers players a unique gameplay opportunity by combining beautiful graphics with challenging depth perception puzzles, and a captivating story. I found the game to be quite relaxing but at the same time frustrating due to the overall lack of direction. Players will need to do quite a bit of exploring to gain guidance and to figure out what the next step is in order to progress further. This offers a large amount of additional gameplay as many players will easily become distracted by the numerous amounts of side activities that are to be enjoyed. I was particularly surprised by the games ending and enjoyed the twist even though I had my own suspicions regarding what was in store for me. Overall, this is a fun game but obviously targeted at players looking for a more casual puzzle experience that can be played at their own pace. Definitely a good game for when you've got a limited amount of time to kill but don't want to comit to anything time consuming.

The Touryst is a great mini-adventure that has a diverse set of puzzles to complete, packed in with charm and style. The minimalistic approach ensures the player doesn't get too distracted by anything else and the fetch quest style of missions ensures that full exploration of the small environments is put to full use. There are moments where some background music would be welcome, even if the design choice was to make it more 'atmospheric' to not have it. Visually, The Touryst looks crisp and bright, and those with HDMI 2.1 Televisions and an Xbox Series X will enjoy a buttery smooth 4K at 120fps. Those looking for a relaxing and fun 5 hour puzzle-adventure should look no further.