AER: Memories Of Old Review for PlayStation 4

Daedalic Entertainment and developer forgotten key are very brave. To go up against the likes of Assassins Creed, Wolfenstein and Call of Duty is one hell of a statement. It's a cluttered time for game releases You must have lots of faith in a game to do this. Forgotten Key have been working on the game for five years and have pored love into this project and you can tell. Words like "beautiful" "charming" and "relaxing" are not out of place when describing this game.  I found my time playing a totally stress free and engaging experience.

At first glance you'd think you were looking at Sony's very own Tearaway. The world in AER is broken into sections that you can explore from the moment you get outside of the first dungeon. Playing as a girl, a shapshifter you can transform into a bird and sore high about the world on your quest to restore order and solve the mystery. The transformation is seamless with a double tap of the X button. As you fly you can pan the camera looking for clues and dungeons or points of interest.

I played the game in my style. I love exploring and seeing how far I can go so I'd opened up the world virtually straight away. You can play it your own way. Talking to people at you main base camp will give you clues as to where you have to travel and explore in the land of gods. How you go about this is entirely up to you.

Exploring the world feels very Tomb Raider at times. Activating 'gates' will open up dungeons where you will carry out some very familiar platforming. As you venture further north snow will start to fall. Exploring the world will reward Trophy hunters so be sure to fly and land to route out all the games secrets.

The graphics in the game are perfect for the relaxing feeling the game gives you. At no time did I experience any jitters or slowdown no matter how hard I pushed the game engine. Water effects are very well done considering the art on show. Sound is also very relaxing and the music ramps up when you take to the sky giving you a very relaxing feeling.

All in all AER Memories of Old is a very pleasant surprise. It's style and gameplay is a very pleasing break from all the repeated yearly games and one that really tries to stand out and succeeds. Games like this will be loved or hated and I'm very pleased to say I loved it. From the first 10 minutes on to the conclusion. I've said nothing of the story as it would spoil it. 

Suffice to say that you need to play this brilliant game. 

9/10

Played on PS4 Pro
PSN UK Store £15.99 PSPlus £14.39

AER Gameplay