Seven Sages

Riddles have a way of making people curious, which is why it’s much easier to trap someone by simply making him curious with something. Even animals have a tendency to check up on what they are not familiar with, probably because you never know when you might stumble onto something useful. On the other hand, it’s better to keep your distance from certain things.

Seven Sages is a pretty strange game in which your sole purpose is to read books and come up with answers to certain questions. However, not even the questions are properly formulated, so the entire experience might be a tad overwhelming for casual adventure fans. Still, if you truly love riddles and you do not back down from a challenge, Seven Sages has the potential to keep you busy for a while.

You play the role of a historian who inherits a collection of sealed books from his grandfather, together with a pretty big responsibility: find out what the books hide and what do all the hidden messages have in common. At the same time, you must also figure out the password to your wife’s journal, because that too might hold a few answers.

The entire action takes place in a single house, so it might feel a bit cheap and repetitive. However, you can focus on reading and the riddles themselves, because there’s certainly no time to waste. On top of that, you can admire a few other objects throughout the house, not to mention the fact that there’s also a desk with a notebook to help you write down some of the clues.

As for the graphics, the top-down perspective is pretty limiting, but the resolution is even lower than what you’re used to. In fact, the main character barely features a few pixels in his entirety, yet it’s not as bothering as you might imagine. There’s a lot of darkness covering most of the environment, which helps a lot with the atmosphere. At least the books are quite easy to read, which is the whole point.

Although it may not appeal to everyone, Seven Sages is certainly worth a shot from every puzzle fan out there, in spite of its modest looks. Hence, if you are up for a challenge that involves a lot of reading, this may very well be the answer.