The children aren’t witches and wizards, and they’re not studying magic - the only tie to the popular franchise seems to be that the characters are all obviously based off the series and they’re in a boarding school. There’s inspiration, and then there’s unoriginal.Ĭopy-cast aside, The Academy: The First Riddle feels like a Harry Potter game without the magic, and I mean that in more ways than one. There’s even the awkward Neville Longbottom type named Tucker (Carlson?) who Harry… I mean, Sam… and the gang have to save from minor inconveniences to round out the main cast. You have the trio of friends - over-achieving smart girl, (Her)Maya(ne), worrywart redheaded friend Dom, and, of course, the dark-haired mildly passive hero, Sam. For one thing, too many characters straight up resemble the main cast of the popular children’s story. Where the homages to Professor Layton were hit or miss, The Academy: The First Riddle’s tribute to Harry Potter was on the nose. Too many times I would use a chocolate bar, find an extremely unhelpful hint, and be forced to click around until I got it right or just skip the puzzle and move on. I longed for the Professor Layton hint coins wherein multiple hints would be provided, increasing in their helpfulness, until the final hint where the answer would simply be provided. There was no scale when it came to difficulty either you could sit forever on a riddle, absolutely stumped until you give up, only to click on the next one and solve within seconds.įor those particularly tricky puzzles, there are Professor Layton-esque chocolate bars to discover during exploration that, when eaten, provide a single hint for each puzzle sometimes, the hints would be enough to assist, but there were other times when the hints straight up made no sense.
Additionally, the first puzzle is either pretty easy or worded so oddly - I would constantly swing from getting the question right on the first try to just clicking around and hoping for the best. Most puzzles are either multiple choice or “drag and drop” to point out the correct item/location on the still image. Where the puzzles are plentiful, the puzzle diversity… isn’t. After answering the easier puzzle, Sam can answer the second puzzle for… extra credit, maybe? Not really sure what the motivation would be to solve the bonus puzzle, as one player skipped them entirely in their playthrough and still managed to beat the game. Every time Sam stumbles upon a puzzle, there’s actually two in one: an easier, mandatory puzzle and a trickier bonus puzzle. Let’s just jump right into the puzzles - when they’re good, they’re good, but there’s too many “odd” ones in-between. Can you uncover what’s going on at The Academy while maintaining your GPA? As the year progresses, Sam and his friends will stumble upon some curious happenings, such as a bear roaming the hallways, a disappearing professor, and hooded figures dropping mysterious, glowing objects. For the next four years, The Academy will be his home, along with other children who have proven themselves worthy enough to be considered the best and brightest Arbor has to offer. After taking the shortest entrance exam in history (literally one question with an optional puzzle), Sam officially enrolls as a student. The Academy: The First Riddle opens up on Sam, who has been invited to attend the mysterious and prestigious academy. Boasting 200 puzzles and one giant mystery stretched across three chapters, The Academy: The First Riddle is supposed to be a scintillating school story with riddles scattered throughout to encourage exploration what we got was… interesting.
First riddle school game android#
Perhaps it aimed too high in its attempt to liken itself to two insanely beloved franchises, or maybe it’s because there were too many little issues that detracted from the experience as a whole whatever the case may be, The Academy: The First Riddle doesn’t feel ready to graduate from game development.ĭeveloped by Pine Studio and published by Snapbreak, The Academy: The First Riddle is available as a free-to-play game on iOS and Android and available for purchase for $19.99 on Steam. The Academy: The First Riddle is fascinating in that it both hits the spot while missing the mark simultaneously.
And as a pretty big fan of the Professor Layton series, I was excited for another puzzle game with story-telling elements to add to my library.
First riddle school game ps2#
While I moderately enjoyed the Harry Potter series, I have fond yet terrifying memories of the Harry Potter games on the PS2 ( seriously, those prefects were the biggest jumpscares). When the words “ Harry Potter/Professor Layton mash-up” were used to describe our latest inbox acquisition, I was beyond excited.
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