ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree
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.
Interactive Story
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.
Puzzles
Along the way, players must solve incrementally challenging puzzles that reveal insightful secrets, fantastical abilities, and hidden passageways. While trial and error is useful, patience is necessary. Not every problem allows for multiple mistakes and failure is most certainly an option. The answers you seek may be lost if you make the wrong decision.
Combat
Violence isn’t always necessary, but, when push comes to shove, ATONE’s combat is a delicate dance of sword and axe. Combat is grounded in the rhythm game genre and the mechanics of titles like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. Music is a crucial component, with each fight receiving its very own song.
Music
ATONE’s music and sound design are composed by Australian artist, Luminist (a.k.a. James Shuar), who blends a synth-heavy score with the digitally corrupted sounds of period-specific instruments.
Steam User 3
This is an amazing game, I have only positive things to say about it. First the art style, it is beautiful and simple yet detailed. It has an angular style to it but it all flows together so well, will make some very nice screenshots. Next the game play, the battles are done in an interesting way, it is what drew me to the game in the first place, and I can easily say that I love it. If you don’t want that much challenge in the battles they have 3 modes Story, Normal and Hard, so if you want you can focus solely on the story. I love that you have the arena to replay the battles, I found that it was good place to practice to get better, I have never played a game like this before(battle mechanics), so it was really fun to play something new. The music is so good it sounds so nice, I am not doing it justice the way I describe it. The story, I’m not that good at describing this but, it was amazing it made you want to see what happens next, which is what you want obviously, the characters are well written/you love some you hate some. It is a puzzle game its not that hard, any of the puzzles that you need to do to continue the story are not really challenging to the point you want to give up, but they do have hints which is always nice. Your choices matter so you can guide the story a bit more how you want. So to sum it up, If you like the look of it, get it, I think you should.
Steam User 3
Started playing, couldn't put it down and finished it in the early hours of morning.
Better than God of War.
Steam User 2
A unique genre-crossing musical adventure. Some echoes of Superbrothers Sword and Sorcery and Hyper Light Drifter. Somehow the writers managed to make me care about even the most minor of characters even though the story was short and concise. But what really sets this game apart is the heart-pounding musical battles.
Steam User 3
I absolutely loved Atone. I actually wasn't expecting to like it this much!
The story is really good. The cutscenes are voiced and while it's not super polished, I like them, they have their own charm. You get really into it as it goes on.
Your choices will matter for the story. I've done two playthroughs so far to see the different story diversions, but have yet to get all of the achievements. The second time, I couldn't stop playing. It's addictive!
Other positives:
→ The puzzles are good brainteasers. There was only one where I couldn't understand a part even after the answer was shown, otherwise I'd say they are all pretty fair.
→ The music for the battles, cutscenes and world is awesome. I particularly like the tranquil and pretty music that plays when you walk around.
→ I love the art, too. Clean, simple and very nice.
Just some thoughts:
Items and Power
There is odal power, split into three types of odal energy.
You get odal power from battling and coming across stones (a few stones have puzzles attached to them).
Collecting enough chaos odal power will allow you to open two or three side doors. And if you want to retry a puzzle it will cost you an odal power (if you have a certain item). Other than these few instances, I'm not sure what else the odal energies do.
Do they influence the story depending on how much power you have? Maybe?
A character called Veldin will ask you questions based on things you read on your journey. If you get the question right, sometimes he gives you an item like a crest or cloth. But they don't show up in the menu, give you money or add to any of your power/health.
Maybe they also influence the story? Some clearer information would be useful.
Rhythm Section and Arena
Battling is done with a rhythm game. You can change the difficulty of the rhythm sections at certain locations on the map, rather than on the menu. You can choose to not play the rhythm parts at all, play with two buttons, or play with all four.
As I've never really played a rhythm game before, I went for Normal Mode (two buttons) and was fine!
You can replay battles in the Arena section, but you can't select a difficulty there. Some of the battles are really hard and it's just a slew of inputs that I can't wrap my head around. It's a shame I can't practice them more slowly first or on an easier difficulty and then build up from there. Some achievements are linked to high scores on these harder battles; I'm not sure if I'll ever get those!
But all that aside, I still really love this game. I will be playing it again for sure. If you like puzzles and a good story, pick this up!
EDIT: I was able to get the rhythm achievements I thought were impossible! Just by playing for fun and somehow improving!
Steam User 1
Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree is really a great game! It's got a unique and fun gameplay style, nice art, and beautiful music throughout. The story is good, if a bit lacking, but I don't believe that's the main draw and appeal of the game. But the music throughout the entire game was truly phenomenal, the tracks always got me hyped or sad for what was to come. While the playtime was shorter than I wanted, the game has multiple endings for you to go back and check out. Additionally, there's an arena mode so that you can redo earlier battles, and also unlocks a couple new battles against characters you didn't fight against.
My main gripe with the game is the lack of being able to create save slots, as there were many times in the story where the path diverges. And while I really do appreciate how you have to deal with the consequences of your actions, if I want to see how something might have played out differently it means I have to play through the entire game again from the beginning. Not cool Sonic.
The puzzles in the game are fun. For me, they were all really easy, and I'd figure out most at just a glance. The "Impossible puzzle" had been solved within seconds just by looking at the screen and the information given. But they were still fun nonetheless, it made me feel really smart whenever I solved something.
As a note for the developers, if you're listening, the only recommendation I have for this game is explanations for everything. With a vast majority of items in the game, such as menuing, battles, and even some quests, it's entirely unsaid what you're supposed to do, or what the function of the thing your using is. I never understood what food was supposed to do, even at the end of the game. I didn't know what any items did, I didn't understand what the artifacts and mead potion stuff was until the end of the game, and overall trying to understand and navigate the menu at the beginning of the game was a nightmare, and almost made me stop playing the game entirely because I was just so confused. But outside of that, I really do think that this game is great. Would highly recommend, and I hope that the issues that I had may be fixed in the future.