ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree  Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree  Free Download GAMESPACK.NET ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree begins its tale by introducing you to Thyon. After heartily laughing with his friends, he suddenly finds out that his entire village was slaughtered by a mysterious blue force, with the only survivors being himself and his daughter. After giving his pendant to her, he meets a swift death under a spirit’s blade. And that’s all we hear from Thyon, as from here on out, we shift our focus to Estra. The story’s relatively short, taking heavy inspiration from the aforementioned Norse mythology. You can get through it in about 10 hours. I’ll be sincere here and say that all of the characters in this story, at least when compared to Estra, have absolutely little to no relevance or much to remember, for that matter. In fact, I cannot even remember their names or who they were. Throughout the narrative, you’ll encounter spirits and enemies that Estra will need to defeat in order to progress. But instead of classic action combat, you will play a rhythm game of sorts, where the goal here is to keep a consistent combo.TOP/BEST ADULT VIDEO GAMES IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree  Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

Still, I will admit that while it gives combat its unique flavor, it feels incredibly out of place. And this is because it is not connected to the story in any meaningful way. Furthermore, from time to time, you’ll be faced with a choice that will greatly affect the ending. Furthermore, throughout your journey, you’ll find a lot of different puzzles. Some are really obvious in their answers, while others are not. You’re left solely to guess based on the visuals, and in some puzzles, you’re given the option to press a button to get a hint after a while, with the exception of overworld puzzles. Using the hint is completely optional, and you may continue trying to solve it if you so desire. Furthermore, it’s also worth noting that the tips do give you a random penalty, which can range from losing one of your blessings, effectively locking you out of certain hidden areas, or a small monetary loss. Nonetheless, both issues are easily circumvented through a simple reset, which is also kind of required because of how the story ending changes depending on your choices, giving it some sort of replay value. If you don’t like the rhythm portions, the title offers you a Story Mode, which makes these sections incredibly easy to progress, and is way more forgiving. As for the masochists out there, there is also a Hard Mode, which makes it so that all of the rhythm portions utilize four-button beat maps instead of the usual two or three.

PUZZLES.

Still, regardless of your preference, I would say the rhythm portions are okay for the most part, but there were lots of cutscene fragments that felt repetitive, and the way the UI of the notes is laid out makes it sometimes hard to understand certain parts of the beat. It would also be nice to get better feedback as to whether you were too early or too late to hit the notes. Regarding the soundtrack, I loved it, as I’ve always enjoyed synth-styled songs. Still, at times, the songs somewhat fail to match the moods the cutscenes try to convey. And the music occasionally drowns out what is being said, again making subtitles almost necessary. I’m also not a big fan of the blocky art style that they have going here, but that’s a minor critique. As for the cutscenes, they’re greatly animated. But even so, when it comes to the voice acting, it is…hard for me to describe it as “good”. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t bad per se; it’s just that sometimes, the main protagonist speaks in such a soft tone that I seriously wondered if something was up with my volume. These days it feels like every second new game released, indie or otherwise, revolves around Norse mythology. Viking warriors doing what they think their gods want them to, said gods ignoring their own rules to do what they want, Tom Hiddelston running amok with the TVA…Arietta of Spirits

ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree  Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

okay, maybe not that last one, but the point is there are many ways you can retell a common story and still feel fresh. ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is one such game featuring the now familiar setting of Midgard, but at its core beats a very different game that juggles a number of different ideas yet doesn’t fumble along the way. Midgard has slipped into darkness, a mysterious illness corrupting the land and poisoning the Elder Tree. Having watched her father die to protect it, Estra now takes up arms to uncover the truth not only about the Elder Tree, but of her family legacy and what it might mean for the rest of Midgard. ATONE plays with a couple of different ideas, combining a traditional adventure with interesting puzzles to solve, a branching narrative path and a rhythm game in place of customary button-mashing combat. Though it may seem like too many ideas thrown in a pot, the team at Wildboy Studios have allowed it to simmer nicely, pulled together with emotional and nicely animated cut-scenes that reminded me of Another World and Flashback in their production. Every puzzle is different from the last, from selecting tiles in the correct sequence to matching symbols to a specific pattern.

COMBAT.

It may sound easy, and some of the earlier ones are a little obvious, but there are some real brain-teasers later in the game that ordinarily would leave you stumped if not for the intelligent (and times sneaky) way the game includes little hints to guide you to the correct answer. Most of the time I found myself pausing for a few brief seconds before it would dawn on me, either through exploring the environment around the puzzle itself or somewhere within the world outside. You will have to be careful with a handful of them, as failing may lock you out for a bonus chest or something extra special, but for the most part I found them deceptively clever. On the flip-side, each combat sequence has you playing a good old game of Guitar Hero, and while that not be as challenging compared to the aforementioned puzzles, it will certainly test your timing. Just like every other rhythm game, you must press the required buttons in time with the prompts as they slide down the screen. On a Switch, the default input is the usual face buttons and the left stick, but I quickly switch from the stick to the d-pad buttons instead and found them far better to time each press to.Mahokenshi

ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree  Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

There are a decent number of these events, mostly tied to important events in Estra’s journey, with the action playing out in the background reacting to how well you may (or may not) be doing. There’s some useful inventory items that will help you out, such as bread to regain health, and they will absolutely come in handy if you struggle to find your rhythm. However, a more useful option is the ability to skip them entirely if you so desire which the dev team included as an accessibility option. So if you want to focus more on the story and in turn listen to the impressive score without the stress of tapping buttons to the tune, you can absolutely do that (or you can crank up the difficulty if you feel so inclined, but that was a little too much for me). Once you hit the end credits, which sadly won’t take too long, you’ll be greeted with a result screen that identifies the path you followed. Every decision you make could have a positive or negative outcome along Estra’s path to the Elder Tree, and if you do want to complete every possible scenario it will take a few playthroughs to do so, meaning what originally was a short experience evolves into something a little meatier. I would have loved more, however, especially along the narrative front where the enjoyable, natural sound of the voice cast have been kept to cut-scenes only, which is a shame.

MUSIC.

There are a few hidden collectibles and side stories you can discover off the beaten path too, but what I wouldn’t give to have a bigger overall journey to take. I’m not talking a bolder tale like God of War, just a little extra time to really get to know the cast of characters. It really does fly by so fast. The Gods have abandoned Midgard. Once a prosperous land teeming with mythical beasts and beings, it now rots from the inside, tainted by unknown forces. Odin’s chosen guardians of the realm are gone. In their absence, the sacred Elder Tree they swore to protect is exposed to abuse and manipulation. Now, the only remnants of hope reside in Estra, the daughter of mankind’s last great leader. With a heavy emphasis on narrative, Estra’s journey through Midgard is filled with Nordic lore, mysterious twists, and consequential decisions. Players will converse with a variety of characters and share in Estra’s discoveries as she learns more about her family’s past and the looming darkness spreading across the realm. Estra’s path is fraught with difficult decisions and untrustworthy characters that can lead her astray. Her story is intertwined with the player’s ability to discern fact from fiction and to decide right from wrong. Avoid battle, help companions, save your people, but remember that the consequences are Estra’s to bear.

ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is an interactive story game that combines puzzle solving and rhythm-based combat. As a young warrior named Estra, you must journey through Midgard to learn about her family’s past and stop the looming darkness spreading across the realm. With difficult decisions ahead and a deep narrative, this norse-mythology inspired game will keep you engaged with its delectable soundtrack and unique visual style. Will you be able to discover the truth and rise up against the corruption that is manifesting? Through my time playing ATONE, I was captivated by the music and the story. I am also a sucker for Guitar Hero-like gameplay, which is the combat system in this game (prompts coming down a rail to the beat of the music). I also loved the art style in general, but the art pieces that came up during combat were especially appealing. I also like the difficulty selection, which allows either 2 or 4 rails of button prompts. But one question remains: How does ATONE run on the Steam Deck? Well, I have the answer! ATONE has absolutely no issues when it comes to performance on Deck! The game itself performs flawlessly at 60 FPS with a 6W – 8W battery drain. No changes to any settings are needed in-game to enjoy this game optimally!

ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree  Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

But, if you use Proton GE, this will be completely fixed! I used Proton GE 7-47, but any later version, and possibly some earlier ones, should work just fine. You can follow our guide on how to get Proton GE for yourself, as well as the importance of why having it is a good idea! Otherwise, I found no issues with playing the game on Deck. Controls worked great, no hitches in framerate or stability, and battery drain being so low allowed a long battery life of 5.5 – 6 hours. ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is an awesome game and one that I can see myself chilling out and getting lost in a captivating story with a mesmerizing soundtrack. The difficulty selection is a nice touch and I enjoyed the rhythm combat and visual style. And to top it all off, the game runs near-perfect on the Steam Deck without any changes in-game, just make sure to use Proton GE for the cutscenes! I am happy to say that ATONE is a Best on Deck game and definitely one worth your time! ATONE’s music and sound design are composed by a variety of incredible artists, including: Julian Ratschiller, Australian artist Luminist (a.k.a. James Shuar), who blends a synth-heavy score with the digitally corrupted sounds of period-specific instruments, and Andrew Prahlow, whose name can be attributed to the critically acclaimed hit Outer Wilds and epics like Star Wars and Blade Runner.No One Survived

ADD ONS/PATCHES AND DLC’S: ATONE Heart of the Elder Tree