Though the asymmetrical co-op title It Takes Two won Game of the Year award in 2021, collaborative games aren’t the most popular gameplay genre. They task two or more players with working together cohesively, sometimes in a stressful environment such as in the hectic kitchen game Overcooked. While Zorya: The Celestial Sisters is not as stressful as some of those other co-op games, it also loses out on what keeps them exciting.
Zorya: The Celestial Sisters is slow-paced, allowing players the time to explore, experiment, and think the levels through. While this sounds delightful in theory, and Zorya’s visual design doesn’t fall short of attractive, the gameplay isn’t quite as polished and eventually becomes monotonous.
The debut game from developer Madlife, Zorya: The Celestial Sisters follows the story of the goddesses and sisters Solveig and Aysu. As the goddess of the sun, the player controlling Solveig can move the shadows by changing the time of day, and therefore where the sun is positioned in the sky. Her perspective is a bird’s-eye view of the entire map, giving her the lay of the land. Aysu, on the other hand, can only move within the shadows that the sun’s angle creates, or else she’ll burn to death and players must start the puzzle from the beginning. Utilizing the shadows cast by buildings, moveable pillars, and trees, Aysu can find her way to the goal of each stage, which are categorized into worlds named after constellations such as Aries, Pisces, and Whale.
Aysu finds herself on Viraj after being tricked by two advisors named Huginn and Muninn. As the goddess of the sun, Solveig is praised for nourishing crops with sunlight while her younger sister, the goddess of the moon, brings darkness. Not being able to live up to her older sister’s glory and reputation, Aysu resents Solveig, and they must learn to work together to be reunited.
Over time, Zorya: The Celestial Sisters introduces new concepts, and the intention is that it adds a layer of difficulty to puzzles that appear later in the games. For example, Aysu can press buttons that open doors or Solveig can activate pillars that move platforms from one point to another. These are some of the best moments that Zorya has to offer; exploring how each mechanic works is interesting and gives the game a breath of fresh air. However, it’s short-lived, as their complexity isn’t sustained. Once players grasp a mechanic, like moving the sunstone in and out of a pillar, understanding each puzzle isn’t what can make Zorya a difficult game.
Like It Takes Two, both thematically and logistically, Zorya: The Celestial Sisters requires constant communication between the two players. It’s an excellent game to play between close pairs such as couples or roommates, but it can easily grow frustrating if communication stops or isn’t effective. The player-made experience can make or break their takeaway from the game. This is one of the issues backed by Zorya‘s main flaw: the asymmetrical style.
As previously stated, Solveig can see the entire map of each level from the sky, as per her role in the story, but Aysu can only see from her fixed third-person perspective on the ground, effectively limiting how much her player can contribute to each puzzle. While Aysu must be the one to press buttons on the floor or push pillars into the sunlight for Solveig, finding the correct path from point A to point B is often left to Solveig because Aysu can’t see what’s on the other side of a wall or in the next building over, for example. This oftentimes leaves Solveig pulling the bulk of the weight during Zorya: The Celestial Sisters, and her player is often left waiting around for Solveig to navigate each obstacle.
That being said, players are freely able to switch between Aysu and Zorya as much as they’d like through the overworld map, and many players may find this option favorable. However, it doesn’t solve the balance problem persisting throughout Zorya. Narratively, it makes sense that Solveig, the older sister, would be guiding her younger sister to finish her quest, but in terms of teamwork, not all players may enjoy the lack of balance between the two. Yes, Aysu must be the one to push objects around, navigate the shadows, and stand on buttons, but in terms of puzzle-solving and critical thinking, Solveig is doing significantly more work.
Likewise, she has more controls and maneuvering to do than her younger sister, and unfortunately, Solveig’s controls aren’t as smooth as one would hope. On a keyboard, the Q and E keys shift the shadows back and forth while the WASD keys move Solveig’s sunbeam around the map, and the moving camera can often make the player feel like they’re wrestling with the controls. But this isn’t the only control that can be finicky. Solveig can sometimes grab onto or click on objects to activate them or stun enemies, but performing these actions unfortunately isn’t very fluid and can lead to frustration.
Similarly, Aysu’s controls can also be a bit difficult sometimes, none more than avoiding stepping out into the sun. This is the only way players can fail or die in Zorya: The Celestial Sisters, which forces them to start back at the beginning of that level. There are no lives in Zorya, meaning players can try as many times as they’d like to complete a stage. But getting sent back to the start of a stage and having to repeat the same exact motions feels like a chore.
While Zorya: The Celestial Sister‘s puzzles might be interesting when starting off or learning new mechanics, the experience becomes monotonous as its puzzles take a longer time to complete during later constellations, made worse by fussy controls. Zorya isn’t a weak game by any means, but while it may appeal to hardcore puzzle enthusiasts, its gameplay loop feels unsustainable for the total number of hours it should take to complete.
Zorya: The Celestial Sisters is out now for PC and Switch. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.
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