PRIM Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

Prose on a Rose

PRIM is a point-and-click adventure published by Application Systems Heidelberg. I was excited to take on this game, as I have played and enjoyed The Plague Doctor of Wippra and Unforeseen Incidents from the same publisher. This game also has a unique premise. I was the daughter of death in a black-and-white world. Did I end up being enshrouded in darkness? Or was I left in the dark? Find out in this Rapid Review.

I look for an immersive story when playing a point-and-click adventure. PRIM features a story, but to me, it was not revolutionary. Playing as the daughter of death is novel, but the story somewhat boils down to an accident happens, and I must fix the issue. None of the plot points were particularly moving. PRIM does feature some animated cutscenes which depict the world nicely though. It is neat to see how the different characters interact with each other. Still, the story content was not in-depth or intricate. The plot is fun and simple. It sent me on my journey safely.

While the story as a whole did not feature too many flourishes, the character dialogue was very animated. The way characters fought over things was entertaining. For example, in one quest, I helped a boyfriend write a song about his girlfriend’s family to convince them of his value. I enjoyed seeing the wild different scenarios, and I also liked how PRIM modernizes many ancient characters and gives them a modern flare. However, I found my main character very annoying. She is a sixteen-year-old girl and she certainly speaks like one. She makes it a point to be dramatic and needy. I found her annoying, and I did not like playing as her.

Entering Death’s Door

While PRIM’s story did not impress me, I enjoyed many of the puzzles. I went around the underworld, interacted with unique characters, and leveraged mythical objects. While puzzles were often easy, many of them were fun. Some of these puzzles are traditional, where objects are found on the ground and combined or used with other things in the environment to mark progression. However, there were a handful of other puzzles to complete here too. In one puzzle, I navigated a chessboard, attempting to flee a cat. I enjoyed these more unique puzzles, as they engaged me with a variety of different puzzles. Of course, adding more variety makes it more likely for some to miss. There were a few tedious segments in PRIM, but as a whole, the puzzles were entertaining.

I also appreciated how PRIM features an in-game hint system. I did not use this for most of the puzzles, but it was nice to know that I would never need to look towards an external guide since the game provided some nice guardrails if I felt too lost. Similarly, I appreciated having a journal with my quests. Sometimes, it can be challenging to maintain the massive list of things I could be doing, so knowing what things I still needed to figure out kept me on track throughout my playthrough. PRIM also showcases hot spots, preventing me from wildly searching for interactable objects. The game does a great job of remaining accessible.

The Pieces of the Puzzle

As much as I appreciated the features to help guide my journey, I never felt particularly troubled. Despite the magical nature of the world around me, many of the items were not magical. I interacted with things like corkscrews, spray bottles, and a pocket scythe. Not every item was that simple, but largely, the interactable items did not capitalize on the uniqueness that comes from being in hell. This is not innately a bad thing, but PRIM would be a lot more memorable if it fully utilized its theming.

To supplement the gameplay, PRIM features a novel black-and-white art style. This worked, but I do think it made the game a bit bland to look at. Things look nice, and it was funny seeing this integrated into items, which were sometimes defined by different shades of grey, but colour could have added some more vibrancy, which might have helped the game stand out. Further, but just a small note, when characters spoke, their lip movements did not correlate with the voiceover, which somewhat broke my immersion. This is not a major issue though. As a whole, the visuals were sufficient but failed to impress me.

One Final Conversation

Further, the game has some nice sound design. The background music was peaceful and did not take away from my puzzle-solving. It was a great addition. I also thought that the sound effects were good. Items made different sounds, which made interacting with things entertaining. I also appreciated how the character dialogue featured voiceovers. Sure, this slowed down the pace a little, but it added style to each of them. I will say, however, that my main character’s voiceover actor had an irritating, nasally voice. This fits the idea of my main character nicely, but it was still annoying and further alienated me from wanting to be her. As a whole though, the sound design was nice and added a lot to PRIM.

At the end of the day, I thought PRIM was fine. I expected more going in, as I like the publisher’s previous work. However, this game does bring a unique perspective to hell, with modern characters and writing. The puzzles, while fairly simple are nicely set up, and I enjoyed knowing that if I got lost, there were plenty of guardrails to keep me back on track. Further, the game experiments with unique styles of puzzles throughout my journey. Despite these neat features, the lack of a moving story combined with the relatively simple items made the game somewhat forgettable. PRIM has many great elements and is a decent choice overall, but I am not rushing to recommend it.

3 out of 5

3

You can find and read our reviews on OpenCritic.