Ary needs some work before she’s truly ready for prime time, but her game has unique and entertaining mechanics, as well as a ton of indie spirit. Last year, we got a hands-off look at Ary and the Secret of Seasons, and were thoroughly impressed by the Zelda-inspired action-adventure title. Now, with just a month left until release, publisher Modus sent us a playable build of the game to try for ourselves.
The playable Steam build featured two demo levels: one from the beginning and one from the late-game. The game begins with a charming cutscene, showing Ary playing with dolls and stuffed animals in her room, fantasizing about being a powerful hero vanquishing villains and earning the adoration of the people. However, her family is currently shattered by the loss of their son, Flynn, who has gone missing and is assumed dead. The mother is doing her best to hold it together, but the father is practically catatonic, and he is unable to respond when the world is inevitably thrown into chaos.
Ary’s father is the Guardian of Winter, and his special crystal has the power to control the cold season. When it becomes clear he will not respond to the call to action, Ary decides to defy tradition (and her mother’s orders) and sets out on a grand quest to save the land. She cuts her hair, takes her brother’s wooden sword, and trades her dress for her brother’s apprentice outfit, and the adventure begins.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons Has Strong Characters & Storytelling
As video game protagonists go, Ary is one of the most plucky, adorable, and compelling heroes around. Her voice actor delivers a strong performance, she is well-animated and expressive, and she sports a distinct visual design. With her violet eyes and scruffy-chic haircut, she immediately stands out as a genuine marquee hero. The opening cutscene goes a long way towards establishing her traits and personality, and she even lets out various quips during combat.
This sense of character and personality shines through in other elements of the game, as well. The first action setpiece occurs when Ary’s hometown of Yule is attacked by Hyena raiders. Unlike the vicious bandits of other RPG titles, the Hyenas are relatively comical and entertaining, even if the world (and Ary) treats them as major threats to the peace. Perhaps to hammer home the danger, the combat tutorial ends with a cutscene that shows Ary getting a nasty cut on her face, courtesy of one of the bad guys.
While much of the dialogue in the game is conveyed through Zelda-style text boxes, important story moments are fleshed out with intricate cutscenes featuring complex facial animation, excellent voice work, and dynamic camera angles The opening portion of the game features several of these big-budget moments, and they possess a cinematic flair that punches far above Ary’s indie weight class.
The Visuals and Structure of Ary and the Secret of Seasons
The first half of the demo takes Ary through the opening stages of the game, showing off her hometown and its residents, as well as featuring some bland sidequests that are nonetheless punctuated by snappy writing and an appreciation for brevity. Most of the non-essential quests we saw boiled down to talking to a few people and reading some text, with little in the way of combat or unique gameplay mechanics. There was one mission, for a wig salesman, that had Ary track down a Hyena camp to take back the wigs that were stolen from the savvy businessman, but it was the exception, rather than the rule. Nevertheless, the main story path features a more involved mix of story, puzzles, platforming, and exploration.
The opening tutorial dungeon outfitted Ary with the Winter Crystal, allowing her to create spheres around her that changed the current season to winter. Within her sphere of influence, so to speak, grass became covered with snow, and water becomes solid ice that can be walked on. Sometimes, massive ice structures would appear, allowing the player to reach new heights and progress through the dungeon. These spheres of controllable weather are the main gameplay hook of Ary and the Secret of Seasons, and the mechanic is responsive and visually striking. In fact, despite its low-fi visuals, Ary is a gorgeous game due to its peppy art style, pseudo-realistic texture work, and creative character design. The broad vistas presented across large outdoor areas also convey a sense of grandeur that betray Ary’s indie sensibilities.
The Dungeons and Puzzles of Ary and the Secret of Seasons
The dungeon featured in the opening hours of Ary and the Secret of Seasons isn’t terribly complex, but it’s there mostly to get the hang of altering the weather within a localized sphere, as well as special items that can enlarge the sphere, essentially turning an entire room into a winter wonderland. Overall, the opening dungeon isn’t challenging, but it does possess a palpable sense of momentum, constantly pushing the player forward and introducing them to new mechanics before testing their skills and moving on to the next mechanic, with plenty of secret and difficult-to-reach treasure chests hidden along the way.
In the second half of the demo, set near the end of the game, the puzzles take a big leap in complexity. At this late stage of the game, Ary has access to all of her seasonal powers (but she can only use three, since every area is in a particular season by default), and has access to advanced techniques like her trusty slingshot and a gravity-defying double jump that allows her to traverse huge gaps with a massive leap. Combined with the ability to create ice platforms by using the slingshot on any ice-covered surface, and some areas allow Ary to reach dizzying heights.
Prior to the boss encounter that ends the demo, Ary finds herself in a classic action/RPG scenario: she must cross an ice bridge, but it’s summer, so the bridge is non-existent. In order to create the bridge, she must retrieve a special item from the water beneath the bridge. But in order to do that, she needs to flip two switches atop a pair of massive towers on either side of said bridge. Each tower is a dungeon in itself, with various puzzles, combat, and platforming challenges, and activating the switches doesn’t bring activate the item; Ary must retrieve it and figure out how use it to use it to cross the bridge, which is another challenge on its own merits. The “bridge and towers” area was definitely a highlight of the demo, save for one noteworthy blemish: the mediocre combat.
Combat in Ary and the Secret of Seasons Isn’t Great
One area where Ary and the Secret of Seasons falters is in its Zelda 64-style lock-on combat. Camera control is drastically reduced when holding the left trigger to lock on to an enemy, and it’s difficult to react to enemies aside from Ary’s main target, so careful positioning is key to avoiding cheap hits from unseen foes. Additionally, there is little in the way of feedback from either hitting or being hit, so Ary’s health can be quickly whittled away without the player even realizing.
There are combat upgrades Ary can purchase with coins earned through exploration and sidequests, but they don’t do much to enhance her fighting skills, instead mostly giving boosts to her damage output or movement speed. Useful, but less than exciting. One cool thing is the effect of weather on certain enemy types. Some enemies in winter carry shields made of ice. If they walk into a sphere of a different season, the shield will disappear. Certain gelatinous enemies turn into blocks of ice in winter that can be moved around to navigate the environment and access difficult-to-reach areas, combining combat with puzzle solving. Still, the main mechanic of hitting and defending via melee combat is neither fun nor rewarding: it’s a chore that gets in the way of Ary’s strengths.
This demo build of Ary and the Secret of Seasons has its ups and downs. Combat is a total letdown at this point, and with only a month left until release, it’s not clear whether or not developers eXiin and Fishing Cactushave are capable of fixing it before then. On the other hand, the platforming and puzzle solving mechanics are far more interesting and complex. Ary’s unique season-shifting abilities form the real core mechanic of Secret of Seasons, and are worthy of praise. The way they intermix with the platforming challenges is inspiring, and the way they impact combat helps to mitigate some of the tedium of fighting enemies.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is already defined by its charm, personality, and unique mechanics. It’s currently held back its compromised combat system (and less-than-stellar camera), but it remains to be seen how much impact this shortcoming may have on the complete experience. We’ll have to wait until September 1 to discover if Ary has what it takes to become the next big indie darling.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons releases September 1, 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.
