Ymana

It’s tough to find video games that help you relax, because most of them are quite demanding and difficult to play without putting some effort into them. There are genres that can be enjoyed more peacefully than others, such as open world games that encourage exploration, but even then you must watch out for enemies that roam the said world.

Ymana is a beautiful exploration game in which your task is to walk between a couple of pillars in the middle of a desert. It sounds easier than it actually is, because there’s a survival element to it all, but you can still enjoy yourself for a while. There are no enemies to ruin the fun or force you to defend yourself, although you can die and lose the game if you are not careful.

The pillars are pretty far apart from each other, but the actual distance is not very important. However, your character gets weaker and weaker as you walk, and the only way to avoid death is by picking up the flowers that are spread around the desert. This forces you to move quickly and not waste time on admiring the scenery, which is kind of a bummer.

Although there is nothing to force you onto a specific path, you need to remember that the effects of the blossoms gradually last for less and less time. Hence, some of the pillars are farther apart, and the journey between them can be more difficult in the later stages, or at least so it seems. It’s obviously not extraordinarily difficult, but there’s an element of suspense to it all.

As far as the graphics are concerned, they certainly make the whole experience that much more immersive and atmospheric. The warm colors are perfect for a bit of daydreaming, although they fade away once you start to run out of flowers. Even the sound goes perfectly well with the scenery, which helps a lot with the mood and your enjoyment of the desert.

When it’s all said and done, Ymana is both engaging and challenging, which is interesting to see in an exploration game. Hence, if you enjoy walking around and do not mind the lack of guns and explosions, this can be something to spend a few minutes with every once in awhile.