REVIEW | Ayre and the Crystal Comet (Tidbit-style)

We love all sorts of games. Sometimes it is hard to cover a game in our traditional review style that’s why we have tidbit-style reviews. These shorter reviews cover games that deserve attention too but simply don’t fit our good, mixed, and bad template. In addition, they get a monthly summary article to give them even more reader attention!

Ayre and the Crystal Comet | 25%
Publisher: EastAsiaSoft
Developer: Gordon Little

If they told me that Ayre is the first playable alpha attempt of Century: Age of Ashes I would have believed them. Literally everything feels unfinished and ugly while you play Ayre and the Crystal Comet. It is a shame as the calm and relaxing flight gameplay could be fun but the glitchy nature ruins any chance of that happening. While walking I was constantly getting stuck in the environment. Luckily, you’ll rarely be in that position as most of the action is in the sky. Disappointingly things are as sour as a dragon’s breath while you explore the large but visually awful world. Mountains or objects appear and disappear in the near distance and I’m 100% sure that even the original Xbox could run Ayre easily. As you can see in the screenshots the game looks really bad.

You are tasked with finding orbs, flying through rings in races, and finding armor for your dragon-riding character. I appreciate that the game steers away from violence but there’s simply not enough meaning for playing it. Controlling the dragon doesn’t feel comfortable either. When you are searching for the orbs and armor you’ll also come across history markers that explain more about the world and characters. Again though, Ayre feels too much like an alpha playing test and far from a game that is meant to be released. Even for the low price of €8.

This isn’t the first time that Eastasiasoft releases something of inferior quality but Ayre really takes the crown.