Aer: Memories of Old is one of the few indie games I picked up more on a whim than anything else. It's colorful, semi-minimalistic, art style really appealed to me. Although I didn't research the game before hand, it thankfully turned out to be quite an enjoyable experience. This is a rather chill exploration focused game with a handful of fairly light puzzles mixed in to keep things interesting. The whole game takes place up in the clouds so much of the joy of AER is simply the thrill of flying around. Discovering new areas and seeing what secrets they have to offer is a real treat. Lets dive into what makes this short journey so magical.
In Aer you play as the young lady Auk as she begins her pilgrimage to visit the ancient temples of the world. In the first temple, where the game starts, she finds a lantern that appears to have magical properties. At this point the temple starts to collapse and once out her mentor Medvin tells her she must use the lantern to research the other temples. From here you can meet some of the local around the lighthouse which acts a central hub for your journey. The world is open to explore and if you get lost you can always come back to the lighthouse for tips on which way you should head towards to progress. Auk's spirit animal is a bird and she can transform between bird and human form at any time giving her the ability to fly anywhere she pleases.
When you reach the correct area for your next objective small beams of light will help guide you to the next temple. Once inside these temples you can no longer fly. Exploring on foot Auk will find glowing platforms she can step on and use her lantern to activate different mechanisms. These mechanisms usually open doors, move platforms, or alter some part of the environment to access new areas. These puzzles are usually pretty straight forward and shouldn't ever get frustrating to solve. With each temple you complete you get to meet a god of sorts that will give you a key fragment. Once you have completed all the temples you can combine the different fragments to form a tool to help your people ward off a dark entity referred to as The Void.
The real treat playing AER is the simple joy of flying to different lands and learning about their history. With your lantern out you can see images of what the ancient people of these lands were doing and saying at that moment in time. There are also scrolls and stone tablets which you can read that provide more insight on your people's past. The story has a lot of layers to it and can honestly be hard to keep track of. The main joy in my mind is just in experiencing things in the moment rather than trying to put all the narrative elements together. Each set of islands vary slightly in different thematical elements and based on the number of trophies I missed in my first run I have to assume there are many secrets to find.
I was honestly surprised by how rewarding of an experience playing through AER was. I'm a huge fan of puzzles games so I did enjoy that element but more than anything else the fun comes through the exploration. This game provides an absolutely beautiful world to explore. Better yet you get to experience these islands from the air and enjoy the thrill of flying around in a large open spaces. This is a rather short experience, I was able to beat the game in two sittings for about three hours of play time. As mentioned early I did missed a lot of trophies which would probably bring the play time closer to five hours or so. I know I picked up the game on sale and if you can get it for $10 or less I believe the fun you'll have will be worth the investment.