Mythology & folklore, times of magical beasts, and Gods among men. Dark times and unknown forces are tainting the villages around Midgard. The Nordic Gods no longer wander the Midgard Plains. With no Gods left or Odin’s guardians remaining in Midgard, the protection of the Elder Tree has dissipated. It has been subject to abuse and corruption. The only person who can unravel the dark and twisted plague on Midgard is Estra, daughter of one of Humankind’s greatest leaders.

‘ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree’ is an adventure, puzzle RPG heavily inspired by Nordic mythology. Developed by Wildboy Studios and published by Untold Tales and the developers, ATONE was first released on the Apple Arcade back in 2019 but has recently had its release for PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch on January 27th, 2023. For this review, we got to check out ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree on the Switch.

ATONE is a narrative-based interactive storyline. As you venture through Estra’s path to nullifying the mysterious darkness that dwells deep and gains power from one’s own dark emotions, you encounter a plethora of puzzles and memorable characters who may help or hinder your progress. Puzzles littered through the game can unlock new areas, gift Endra with more abilities, and uncover long-lost secrets of the realm. The puzzles get incrementally harder the further you travel Estra’s path.

Most puzzles you can attempt multiple times, but some are a real test that you may only attempt once but offer greater gifts than standard puzzles. The road is fraught with danger, villagers affected by the mysterious disease ’Blue Vein’ have succumbed to their dwelling anger and hatred and pose a serious threat. Driven by these emotions, Estra must defend herself from oncoming attacks. Battle against these infected people is based on rhythm-style games like ‘Guitar Hero’. Simply hit the buttons in time with the beat.

Combat was one of the highlights and helped break the gameplay up from excessive adventure and puzzle-solving. Each battle had its own custom song and was choreographed perfectly. The background graphics featured trading blows between Estra and her enemy which were a joy to watch. The battle sequences were in a stop-motion style so while focusing on not missing too many notes you wouldn’t miss the core battle itself. For such a beautiful-looking and feeling game, the lands and story get dark very quickly.

The art within ATONE was simple but effective, all visuals were hand drawn by some talented folks. The use of a dark silhouetted forest as a border for the areas was a truly magnificent touch, it essentially acted as a frame. The characters brought a vibrant aesthetic to the dark dismal lands of Midgard. The vibrant character and scenery foreground brought a good contrast to some dark backgrounds. I did find, however, that some foreground obstacles blended into the background a little too much making traversing some areas tedious.

Sound is a massive part of games, if the audio is lacking the game may never draw you in and hold your attention. This is where ATONE excelled. Custom soundtracks featuring periodically correct instruments mashed up in an ambiance blender captivated me for hours. The deeper you get into the story, the darker and eerier the soundtrack gets. Battle tunes were epic, and the use of rhythm-based mechanics was a perfect choice.

Noodling out a bunch of notes to a heavy synth beat with distorted and corrupt Nordic instruments was massive amounts of fun. Voice acting during cutscenes helped break up the amount of reading one has to do. Although the storytelling was very well done, a lot of environmental stories are melded with stories told through puzzles. The narrative was a perfect balance. For one, I HATE reading, I’m slow, I lose track easily, and having to read pages gets boring. ATONE, however, has a short precise dialogue that covers everything the player needs to know. Whatever gets missed in the dialogue is picked up on the environmental and puzzle side of things. I felt it was perfectly balanced.

ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is an amazing story by Wildboy Studios that I highly recommend to anyone to try out. It has a perfect mixture of visuals, music, and storytelling. With such an eclectic mixture of game mechanics, it can be enjoyed by almost every gamer. ATONE is a real indie gem.

Written by: Bigfoot