Varenje: Chapter 1

Fantasy writers love to tackle weird subjects, especially when it comes to video games. Not every story in the genre is about goblins and orcs, and it’s nice to see something different every now and again, even if the plot is not particularly complex. In fact, sometimes it’s more enjoyable to have fun with a simple concept than it is to explore complicated characters and deal with their issues.

Varenje: Chapter 1 is a basic adventure game with point & click gameplay mechanics, in which you explore a fantasy world from the vantage point of a miniaturized hero. Although the story is kept fairly simple in this introductory chapter to the series, there are plenty of interesting ideas along the way, and it’s quite clear that the writers plan on expanding the world in the following episodes.

As such, it all starts when the main character happens to eat some kind of magical berry that reduces his size considerably, thus throwing him into the hidden world of worms and beetles. To make things even more interesting, it turns out that these creatures are actually building all sorts of weird contraptions down here, and they work quite hard on keeping them secret from the regular-sized humans. Naturally, your goal is to return to normal by finding some kind of antidote.

Gameplay-wise, the point & click mechanics are not particularly revolutionary, so don’t expect anything too wild in this regard. In fact, most of the time it’s more about finding hidden items in the background images, because there are not that many puzzles or exploration options. If you are having trouble spotting certain objects, you can use the hint system as well, although you must first solve a simple mini-game in order to get an answer.

Visually, the game is very appealing and colorful, even if you are not free to explore the environment at your own leisure. In fact, many times you are stuck looking at the same scene for a long time, especially if you are having trouble finding all the required items. Thankfully, there are also special rooms with puzzles in every scene, which add a bit of variety to the visual side of things.

Varenje: Chapter 1 is definitely an enjoyable little game, in spite of the fact that it is quite short and simple. More is definitely to come in the future, and the gameplay is challenging enough to keep you invested in the puzzles. Hence, it’s worth a shot if you are a fan of hidden object flicks.