Review: Mists of Noyah for PS5

In the gaming world, we often come across games that promise a lot but don’t quite hit the mark when it comes to delivering. As the saying goes, ‘never judge a book by its cover.’ However, when it comes to gaming, keeping one’s word is crucial. We’ve been let down many times by developers promising flawless experiences and falling short. Remember the initial release of No Man’s Sky? Back then, it was a major letdown for many of us who bought into the hype. Fast forward, and Hello Games has truly turned things around, deserving heaps of praise. But No Man’s Sky serves as a warning for other developers who fail to make good on their promises. Which brings us to our latest PS5 adventure: Mists of Noyah. On paper, it seemed like a potential game-changer, but the final product doesn’t quite live up to expectations.

Imagine a game that perfectly blends crafting from titles like Terraria with the roguelike exploration of a Metroidvania. It sounds like a dream, right? A new adventure with unique worlds to explore each time and impressive crafting. Mists of Noyah had all the potential to fit that description. Sadly, it feels like a project that was left unfinished.

Upon firing up Mists of Noyah, I was eager to see what my character, chosen from the select screen, could accomplish. The game is all about defending your village from nightly monsters while using daytime effectively to gather supplies and build defenses. I expected a tense rush against the clock, with every decision about resource collection affecting not just me, but the safety of the villagers I was protecting. But instead, I started off, strangely enough, in a forest.

The game completely lacks a tutorial. Now, I’m all for being dropped into an unknown world to figure things out, as long as there’s a basic control guide to get you started. I don’t even mind having to piece together the storyline myself; it can add an intriguing edge. But here, the absence felt more like a half-hearted attempt to skip a real intro.

Despite the learning curve, I managed to grasp basic controls and navigated through chopping trees and mining rocks, ticking off my first quest to craft wooden armor. However, it was mostly trial and error with the interface. After all my wandering and button-mashing, I ended up lost and unfortunately, clueless.

Nighttime brought tougher enemies, and my bow was quite ineffective against them. I found myself bypassing confrontation altogether, racing past threats I wasn’t equipped to handle. Without a clear sense of direction or purpose, I couldn’t fully enjoy exploring. Multiple casualties later, I eventually stumbled upon the village, and yet another wave of confusion hit me.

The village felt just as incomplete. The vendors were mute and their inventories filled with items whose purposes were unknown to me, making spending my hard-earned gold a guessing game. Then there was the dungeon run offered by a fairy NPC–an experience that ended in swift character obliteration on the ‘easy’ difficulty.

Venturing into different biomes didn’t fare much better. They presented as mere re-skins of the starting area, cycling through desert and icy landscapes without any real transition or goal to guide me. While the concept of shifting day-and-night cycles is intriguing, it ultimately left me more befuddled than compelled to press on.

The clock on the screen was supposed to build tension, marking time until nighttime raids on the village. Unfortunately, it didn’t pause when sifting through menus or reading a lengthy scroll containing the story’s plot—an oversight that leaves you vulnerable in critical moments.

Mists of Noyah comes off as an unfinished product—a title with significant potential, yet lacking the necessary elements to make it enjoyable. Was it rushed out the door so the developers could move on? That’s how it feels, unfortunately. What’s on display looks appealing enough, but that’s more like style over substance.

If only the developers fine-tuned the essentials and fleshed out the content, we’d be looking at a different game, and a different review. Priced at £8.00 for PlayStation users—a cheeky £8.00 more than it’s worth, especially considering the incomplete state it shares with its earlier Steam iteration. After two years in the Steam store without an update for consoles, it feels more like a cash grab than anything.

Ultimately, Mists of Noyah is a game you’re better off skipping. Had it been as polished as it was promising, it would be worth the investment. Instead, what we’re left with is a puzzling, underdeveloped game, more suited for an Early Access descriptor rather than a full release—a shell of what could have been. Save your money and look elsewhere.