There’s something about the gaming world that’s all too common: games that tease with an exciting premise only to falter in delivery. It’s like picking up a book because of its intriguing cover and finding the story doesn’t quite live up to your expectations. In gaming, however, when developers make grand promises, we expect them to deliver. A textbook case of this is No Man’s Sky. Many of you might jump up to defend it—and you’d be right now. But when it first launched, the game fell far short of its towering promises. This isn’t me railing against Hello Games, though. They turned things around spectacularly and deserve their accolades. Consider this more of a cautionary note to other dev teams that don’t follow through. Fast forward to our current venture on the PS5: “Mists of Noyah.” On paper, it seems poised to redefine its genre, but as we dive in, it becomes clear the execution lags behind the idea.
Imagine a game that beautifully blends crafting elements—think Terraria—with a roguelike Metroidvania twist. Exploration is king, promising new experiences with each playthrough, coupled with cool crafting mechanics. Sounds like a dream, right? If Mists of Noyah felt complete, it could have been a genre-defining game. Sadly, it comes across more as a rough draft set aside before it could fully come to life.
Excitement brewed as I booted up Mists of Noyah, eager to see what kind of action awaited my chosen character. At its heart, the game is about defending your village from nightmarish creatures. Daytime is for foraging, building, and prepping defenses against the horrors that roam at night. The urgency of the clock ticking away as you scavenge and build for the villagers’—and your—survival is palpable. Yet, instead of a thrilling fight for survival, I found myself plunked into a vast forest, aimless.
The game offers no tutorial, seemingly assuming players will piece together its mechanics intuitively. This approach can be thrilling with the right grounding in controls and objectives. Often, games can thrive on this mysterious, piecemeal storytelling, but here, it feels like an oversight. The absence of guidance felt less like intentional design and more like a missing component.
I gradually figured out the basics, hopping from platform to platform, eliminating enemies, and gathering resources. Crafting wooden armor became my first victory, though the achievement came more through persistent menu exploration than intuitive gameplay. The challenge was magnified when death sent me back to square one with only a vague sense of direction.
Nightfall in Mists of Noyah raises the stakes, introducing tougher creatures that my feeble bow barely dented. Running past enemies became my strategy, driven more by curiosity to discover a village I felt I should have started in, than by any real exploratory sense. After multiple attempts and the same monotonous path, I stumbled into the village, only to find more confusion.
Unfortunately, the village echoed the unfinished feel of the game’s beginning. Vendors offered silent inventories, leaving me in the dark about the value of their wares. My in-game currency remained untouched, due to the uncertainty surrounding my purchases. A fairy offered a dungeon run—of course, I went for an easy one. Yet, my first encounter was more a massacre than a challenge.
Different biomes were little more than retextured versions of the starting woodlands, with transitions so abrupt they lacked any cohesive feel. After a few screens, I moved from woodland to frozen tundra, then desert, and back, without any clearer sense of purpose. Combat was decent, and levels well-designed, but a driving force to progress was conspicuously absent. The day-night cycle, while an interesting concept, served mainly to complicate matters further without clear objectives.
A constant clock ticking away on the screen should heighten tension. It marks the countdown to night, where dangers multiply. Yet, in a game where discovery is hampered by a lack of clarity, an incessantly running timer inhibits rather than enhances. During my stay in the village, I purchased a scroll, curious to uncover part of the story. As I reached the tenth page of the twelve-page tome, I realized the clock hadn’t stopped. This oversight—or perhaps intentional design—meant potential ambushes threatened while I sought to understand the game’s backstory.
Mists of Noyah stands like a shadow of what could have been a compelling game. Without a coherent story or engaging world, it looms as an idea released unwillingly onto the market, possibly as the developers’ attention strayed to other projects. It feels unloved, unpolished. And if they couldn’t invest fully in the game, why should players invest their time or money? Visually, it’s captivating, but unfortunately—much like the British saying—it’s all style, no substance. Had the fundamentals been solidly worked on, this review would be a vastly different tale.
If Mists of Noyah had launched as an Early Access title, a rough-around-the-edges product on its way to completion, this review might have taken on a different tone. Instead, asking players for £8 on a PS4 or PS5 version of a game that feels incomplete is jarring. Check it out on Steam, and you’ll spot a nearly double price—a stark reminder of past promises unmet. It feels like a rushed port with two years between platforms that didn’t fix its core shortcomings.
Ultimately, Mists of Noyah is an experience most can skip without regret. Had it been completed with care, it might have stood out as a memorable title. As it stands, it’s a jumble of good ideas hampered by haphazard execution. It doesn’t feel ready for any console maturation, let alone as a lackluster PC port from yesteryear. My advice? Hold onto your eight pounds for something more rewarding.
