[amazon_link asins=’9752304540,B017AGIDY6,B01GW917NQ,B01BI7XY6A,B0742HGBG1,B00OA7OE3I,B005A75VGQ’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’ticgn04-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’eacc327d-8755-11e7-8f71-9f31a9454c61′]Nephise Begins is the prequel to Nephise, and a small, encapsulated vision of Nephise’s journey to become an Orb Hunter. As far as Tonguc Bodur’s catalog goes, this one was probably my least favorite, and yet it still carries a lot of appeal as its own entity.
As mentioned above, this is the prequel to the game Nephise, and in Nephise Begins, we get to see how she becomes an Orb Hunter. While the significance of such is still left a mystery, it is a satisfying explanation as to how she found her way to the events of Nephise and why she has issues with excess (or addiction, if you will).
She starts out as a mushroom hunter, but as she starts to find the skulls of the dead, she is drawn into an adventure to find the origins of said doom.
7 out of 10
As with Nephise, Nephise Begins is set in a small and encapsulated, circular area that she will explore to find mushrooms and animal skulls, which are also the impetus for her finding the path to becoming an Orb Hunter.
This is exactly the same style of gameplay as Nephise and similar to other of Tonguc’s entries. As such, you can expect a seamless experience with no bugs or glitching.
There is one primary puzzle much as with its predecessor, and this is easily solved, yet clever in its design and application.
All in all, solid effort here. 9.5 out of 10
The graphics in Nephise Begins is where I really see an actual decline from previous entries. Running with the same specs on each game, Nephise Begins was far less distinct and crisp as previous entries. The colors were a bit more blurred, and everything had a less vibrant feel about them (outside of the skulls and mushrooms which really popped in contrast to everything else). I don’t know if this was a conscious decision so as to emphasize the mushrooms and skulls, but it just wasn’t as effective in my estimation as it could have been. Some of the other stuff, like the guardian fox and the harpy were quite nice looking, and the temple was really cool. So, it is still a visually pleasing game. Just not at the level I expected it to be.
8 out of 10
The audio tracks in Nephise Begins aren’t too different than in Nephise itself. The old lady narrator was the same and the orchestration was at least similar. Everything was as such both effective and pleasing.
9 out of 10
It might seem I’m a bit down on Nephise Begins but I’m really not. It’s still a definite cool experience. I just wasn’t AS pleased with it as with past efforts by Tonguc. This game still rates highly though.
8.4 out of 10. Must play experience for walking simulator fans.
