Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree

Genre: Graphic Adventure / Music-Rhythm

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: Review code provided by the kind folks at Untold Tales)

Atone, from developer Wildboy Studios, is a Graphic Adventure with Music-Rhythm elements first released as an Apple Arcade exclusive in 2019, with a port of the game coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2023. This game follows the story of Estra, a young Norse woman in a time of gods and myths who finds her family’s past has come back to haunt her as she starts seeing visions, and not long after comes to find that a magical sickness is taking hold of her people and forcing them into a murderous rage.

Atone is a game heavily steeped in Norse mythology, with Estra herself being one of the last surviving members of a tribe called The Atori, entrusted with enforcing the laws of Odin on Earth (or Midgard, if you go with old Norse nomenclature). This after Estra’s village was the target of an attack by a magical onslaught by a mysterious enemy in the game’s prologue.

Atone’s… er, tone… is a somber one, with death being a constant element the peoples of the game’s world contend with. This tone is highlighted by this game’s solid voice acting for the game’s cutscenes, as well as an excellent soundtrack, which includes a few instrumental tunes, but is largely comprised of wonderful synthesized themes that range from mellow and atmospheric to melodic. For a sample of this game’s music, check out Sons of Fenrir and Emergence.

For visuals, this game uses 2D visuals with a simple style that has everything made from sharp geometric shapes, a style that reminded me of earlier games from developer Drinkbox Studios, such as Severed and Guacamelee. It’s a distinctive look that works well enough for the game, even if it’s not pushing the envelope in any technical way.

The gameplay in Atone mostly takes the form of a Graphic Adventure, though it mixes in various other elements too. There’s little of item-hunting often seen in Graphic Adventures, but players will frequently find themselves solving a variety of puzzles to progress, usually requiring players to be observant of the various elements of the puzzle or the environment around them to figure out the logic behind the puzzle.

Occasionally, players will engage enemies in battle, with these battles taking the form of a Music-Rhythm game. This has notes descending down from the top of the screen, Guitar Hero-style, with players tapping face buttons and D-pad directions at the proper time. Alternately, players can opt to use the touchscreen to tap these buttons, something I’m glad that this game retains from the Apple Arcade version of the game.

Having said that, I feel like these Music-Rhythm sections tend to make for an awkward fit in this game, being the only part of this game that requires any sort of dexterity from the player. What’s more, they come so infrequently that every time you encounter a new battle it seems like the game has spiked in difficulty. Also, I think that the button-mapping on the controller for these sections was probably ill-advised – tapping A, B, and Down quickly with perfect timing works fine, but tossing Left into the mix just does not feel natural. I feel like this game would have been better off sticking with only three notes for its Music-Rhythm gameplay, or at the very least giving players the option to map these controls to the L, R, ZL, and ZR buttons. I do credit the game with at least providing players with the option to adjust the game’s difficulty.

There are a few other more minor nitpicks I have here for the Graphic Adventure sections as well – your character’s walking speed feels a bit slow, making for a bit of needless tedium when you’re walking back and forth across an area, or especially when you’re ascending a staircase and the pace slows even further. Also, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish when lines in the environment represent an impassable barrier, and when they are merely decorative. And finally, I need to mention that while cutscene text is easily legible, the text spoken by characters outside of cutscenes is frustratingly tiny and difficult to read, a rather surprising flaw given this game’s mobile origins.

Despite its flaws, Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree still does an excellent job crafting a story with a beautifully dour tone, a beautiful soundtrack, and some enjoyable puzzles. It’s a shame that this comes with a few frustrating elements, and I feel that many players who enjoy this game’s Graphic Adventure gameplay may find themselves taken aback at the Music-Rhythm elements. However, overall this is a solid game that should particularly appeal to players who are fond of the Norse mythology that this game makes a central element in its story.

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tl;dr – Atone is a Graphic Adventure with Music-Rhythm elements set in a world steeped in Norse mythology. The Graphic Adventure elements here are good, with some nice puzzles, solid voice acting, and a wonderfully somber story and tone. The Music-Rhythm gameplay on the other hand, while not bad, feels like a poor fit here, and makes for some ugly spikes in difficulty. However, I believe that this is still a game that largely succeeds in building a mood and exploring its mythological lore, and well worth a look for those who find that lore appealing.

Grade: B-

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