• Price: $14.99 USD (currently on sale for $11.99 until November 15th)
• Developer: HomeBearStudio
• Publisher: Hound Picked Games
• Release Date: November 14, 2024

A review code was kindly provided by PR Hound on behalf of HomeBearStudio and Hound Picked Games. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Warning: review will contain some spoilers from the first game.

NAIRI: Tower of Shirin was a point-and-click adventure that ended on a cliffhanger. The story takes place in the city of Shirin, which is divided into different districts based on socioeconomic status. The people worship Soluna, and the Sol and Luna Councils advise the king.

Nairi’s father is the Luna Council Master, and while the family may live in the “rich district,” that doesn’t stop the Royal Guard from taking her parents away one night. She manages to escape the city, but after weeks away she wants to know the fate of her parents, and she returns through the less-guarded “poor district” entrance. With the help of her new friends, she tries to arrange passage to the upper level districts.

In the process, a sheltered Nairi learns about the current political affairs in Shirin. And as she explores more of the city, she also discovers a prophecy stating that a Great Storm is coming, which is said to consume everything in its path.

Nairi is a “Messenger of the Storm,” capable of communing with the deified Soluna and learning about the past through visions. We learn that the Great Storm, a “cyclical force of destruction…[that] has doomed many civilizations,” is caused by corruption in society, and Shirin is in the crosshairs.

Players who need a more detailed refresher on the first game’s story can view a beautifully illustrated recap by clicking an icon on the loading screen. Rising Tides begins a few weeks after Tower of Shirin. They give us some additional background on Shiro, the exiled son of the Sol Council Master, who we last saw falling from great heights.

After spending a short time as Shiro, we switch back to Nairi’s perspective. While the first game focused on her experience in the poor district, she and Rex ended up in the “middle district” after the events of Tower of Shirin. Now the goal is to move up to the rich district to find Nairi’s parents.

Alas, almost no one in Shirin will do something for nothing. Need some forged papers to get through the gates? You’d better pay up! Once again you’ll find a variety of obstacles in your way. Familiar faces offer Nairi and Rex their assistance in getting into the rich district in exchange for help finding someone.

Gameplay remains mostly unchanged; you’ll still click around the screen trying to find important items to combine and use to complete requests and advance the story. But they also made some fantastic changes to some of the mechanics.

Honestly, I don’t usually play point-and-click games because I’m often so bad at them. But I chose to give the first game a chance because its adorable artwork really drew me in. (I’m glad I did!) I did have to use a guide to get through Tower of Shirin though – both to find coins and to solve some puzzles that tripped me up.

I wouldn’t have found those coins without the guide in the last game. This time, the coins stand out a lot more, and I noticed many of them pretty easily. They increased the amount of coins you have to find, going from 61 in the first game to a whopping 300 in this one!

I also had some trouble finding my way around last time, but they seem to have taken that into account by providing players with maps and the ability to fast travel (using an adorable ferret to ferry you around). The fast travel mechanic is such an improvement!

They also offer much more detailed hints in the notebook. You pay the cute little Hint Chick for hints on what to do, giving them additional coins for the next hints about the current “puzzle.”

I did have some complaints about some aspects of the hint system. Sometimes I’d pay for hints about a puzzle I’d already solved, as I’d click on that puzzle icon thinking there was more to learn. I wish it didn’t let us waste money on solved puzzles.

Also, some of the hints were very obvious, like “you need to repair the key” instead of starting with a hint telling us how to do so. It felt like a waste to pay for a hint about an objective that we already know, especially when we can reread dialogue from previous scenes in the notebook.

Complaints aside, I was still very grateful to have an improved hint system. And I think that the puzzles are not quite as vexing in this game. I was able to get through the vast majority of the puzzles myself, paying for hints as needed.

The best new feature is the ability to skip through the puzzle sequences in the “ruins” areas. I did get stuck in those areas, and I was so happy that they allowed players to skip ahead to the next part of the story!

I think they did a good job balancing humorous moments with the serious ones, and with writing characters with complex motivations. Several characters want to do the right thing – or at least what they initially think is the right thing – but end up betraying Nairi at some point or wronging others somehow due to personal issues.

After playing both NAIRI games I really saw some parallels between their stories and Avatar: The Last Airbender. (I have a good three paragraphs about it in my review notes! 🤣) I was intrigued by the society they created in Shirin, so I did have some fun trying to analyze the characters, the class system, and the city’s history/culture. I do wish we got to see more visions in this one, as well as information about the Great Storm.

I was caught off guard by what felt like an abrupt ending, with another cliffhanger setting the stage for another game. I try not to look into games I review too much before playing them, so I thought that we would save Nairi’s parents and prevent the Great Storm in Rising Tides.

However, a Nintendo Life interview with the developer last month indicates that a third NAIRI game is already in the works, and they anticipate that the story will come to a close with the fourth game. At this point I’m pretty invested in the characters, so while I’m sad we haven’t saved the day yet, I’m really looking forward to the next chapters.

What’s great is that they seem to have taken player feedback into account and also added some new features to Rising Tides. This experience felt smoother than Tower of Shirin, both in terms of gameplay and performance.

Besides improving certain features from the first game, they also added a few timed multiple choice sections. One request even has you use the multiple choice mechanic to spar with another character; you have to choose the right moves to win. (I kind of wish we had more fights like those – especially with the fun illustrations!)

One of my favorite new features was the inclusion of collectibles. You can find hidden pieces of art around Shirin, and if you save up enough coins you can buy some absolutely precious figurines of the cast.

I really loved the art in the first game, but I think they stepped up their game here, with more refined, vibrant illustrations. They even have the character portraits continue to blink as you read the dialogue. Whether it’s the character portraits in a regular scene or a more “CG” style illustration, I adore the art. The animals are especially cute.

Based on my experience with the first two games, I think we’ll see even more improvements and possibly some additional features in the next entries in the series. For now, Tower of Shirin and Rising Tides will cost players ~$20 total for experiences that last between 5-10ish hours each.