Golem

Review

No one knows who built this ancient tower on the coastline. All we know is that it used to be the only source of water for a village nearby, and they were connected via an aqueduct.   Now, within its ruins, lay puddles of fresh water from the cave beneath it. For many years, children from the village were sent to the tower to retrieve as much water as they could for the survival of the villagers. One day, a young girl stumbled upon a glowing blue sphere in the tower. Is it an omen? And would this blue sphere guide her throughout the caves to an unlimited source of fresh water for her and villagers? This is what you’ll have to find out in Golem!

Golem is a point and click puzzle game, developed and published by Longbow Games, where you take control of a young girl and her Golem companion.

The game consists of 10 levels. At the time of writing this review, I have successfully cleared 6 out of the 10 levels. There is no tutorial in Golem, and you really don’t need it, to be honest, as the first couple of levels are pretty easy to go through. Your goal is to get both the girl and the Golem to reach a grand arched door, which has a blue sign sort of shaped as a daisy, in order to complete the level. At first, the young lady will have the burden of pushing the glowing orb throughout levels until she finds a small pool of water. The sphere will grow two legs when pushed into the first pool on level three. I am not sure whether or not this will occur every three levels. Mind you, the second time the Golem evolved in my gameplay was on level six.

In terms of the gameplay, it’s pretty easy; select the girl or the golem (when it has its two legs, and not before), pinpoint and click on the location and take them there. The girl can climb ropes and vines on the walls to access upper or lower points within the caves. She can also activate levers to move carts and lift too. There are also weight platforms which can open doors when either the girl or the Golem stand on it.      

Personally, I found the first few levels pretty straight forward, as they were short and simple. I started to really enjoy the game from the fourth level, which shows different perspectives each time you move around the tower.  I needed to be more attentive to detail to get through it.

In terms of graphics, the game looks pretty good. The soundtrack is nice, and I find the controls very easy to use.  I do think the puzzles could have been a little bit more challenging. However, it’s a great introduction for someone who has never played puzzled games.