Heroes Reborn Enigma Guide
You play as a young girl named Dahlia, who wakes up in a government ran facility known as “The Quarry”. Your encounter with Trevor Mason begins on the wrong foot, as the director of the facility used you and your sister as test subjects for his new formula called the Gemini Formula. Originally, Dahlia only contained a telekinesis ability but is injected with this formula to evolve new capabilities of slowing down time and time shifting into the past and present. You are pretty much a lab rat, running through a series of tests. Dahlia may only be 14 years old, but she appears fearless in her encounters with her sarcasm and determination.Each exit door is connected to pressure platforms which opens when pressed down, however it is not as easy as it sounds to achieve this. You’ll need to use your powers in various ways such as your telekinesis to pick up and throw boxes onto the platform to keep doors open, along with slowing down time to move to different areas faster or throw boxes while on the move, and finally shift time to discover new items, enter new locations, and land on new boxes. Levels can include multiple doors, pressure platforms, and new platforms as you shift through time.The game dives into it with the help of chat bubbles, allowing the player to glean a bit of the backstory as well as the conflict to come. At the root of this tale, “evolved humans” are the subject of suspicion, and are seemingly forced to take part in experiments. Our protagonist, perhaps ominously called Dahlia, is compelled to do what is required of her to protect her sister, who is also being kept against her will. This character is based on an actual character in the TV series. The gameplay is broken into levels; the first gives one a hands-on tutorial of how the game navigation works. The game is presented in first person view, and swiping the screen manipulates the player’s perspective. Further, tapping on highlighted portions of screen allows the character to move towards and on the highlighted square. One also learns how to use and harness the powers the character is gifted with, and gradually, one is introduced to the puzzles that make up the core of the gameplay.
The puzzles themselves are mostly good. You’ll get 2 or 3 brain busters for every 10 levels or so. The other levels can be satisfying as well, but there are definite leaps and falls in the difficulty. The story of the game was written by show creator Tim Kring himself, along with other writers on the new series. And the story and voice acting is generally solid. Though personally, I found it could bog down the pacing. Where Portal almost never makes you sit there and listen to GLaDOS speak, often the beginning and end of the level will feature segments of dialogue that, for me, dragged on too long. I wanted to get straight to the puzzling, but I had to listen to menacing monologues from Mason. The third act of the game is better about this, as the plot takes a legitimately interesting turn. In your time traveling ability, you’ll jump between the current pristine and future destroyed versions of the facility. Something happens to the facility to cause a series of explosions. I’m going to nitpick a bit here. Most puzzles cannot possibly be solved without jumping forward in time. But how could the non-time traveling scientists possibly plan puzzles in the present day that incorporate time jumping? And Dhalia can only jump between times and places she’s already been or will be in the future. So how did they possibly plan for that? I gave up trying to figure things out at the introduction of quantum time traveling boxes. Anyway, I’m being critical but these are secondary aspects to the gameplay and puzzles, which, as I said, are pretty great overall. Difficulty is raised in later levels when soldiers that will instantly cause you to lose if you enter their cone of vision enter the mix. Not as charming as cute singing turrets but they get the job done! The controls would have been infinitely better with a controller or mouse and keyboard set-up. You tap to move your character. But you also touch the screen a ton to grab items and move the camera, so accidental movement is common. You can turn on a joystick for movement, which I’d definitely recommend, but this doesn’t turn off the touch to move function. The sensitivity of the camera is pretty high at default too, but you can adjust as needed.
Moving boxes to activate switches is only one of the obstacles on your path to freedom. Guards also roam the facility, but you can slow time or shift between time periods to evade them, as well as solve puzzles. The very last level of the game is actually riddled with quick time events, in which you time shift and slow down time when prompted while trying to get away from the exploding facility. At the risk of being Mr Spoiler, the puzzles are really what make this one pop. It starts with simple stuff, but then progresses to a point where our hero has to use a power to get by. Then, one gets to a point where using said powers together becomes necessary to finish a level, and so on. It never really gets boring, the puzzles are easy to get into and the progressions feel sensible. It is fantastical stuff, and the experience comes together fairly well. The game works in some aspects because its source material doesn’t become an ironclad guide; this one stands on its own. It doesn’t go too far beyond the initial premise, and one would probably enjoy more characters and a longer series, but for the most part, it works as-is. At $4.99, it is an investment; use a good internet connection, because it’s a sizable file for the official 15 minute trial. Harness your powers of time shifting, telekinesis and time manipulation to survive. But, it will take real skill to escape where you are being held hostage and save your sister.
You tap to move your character. But you also touch the screen a ton to grab items and move the camera, so accidental movement is common. You can turn on a joystick for movement, which I’d definitely recommend, but this doesn’t turn off the touch to move function. The sensitivity of the camera is pretty high at default too, but you can adjust as needed. The very last level of the game is actually riddled with quick time events, in which you time shift and slow down time when prompted while trying to get away from the exploding facility. Harness your powers of time shifting, telekinesis and time manipulation to survive. Chambers become increasingly more challenging with new obstacles to overcome and elements to take into account. Moving boxes to activate switches is only one of the obstacles on your path to freedom. Guards also roam the facility, but you can slow time or shift between time periods to evade them, as well as solve puzzles. You’ll need to use your powers in various ways such as your telekinesis to pick up and throw boxes onto the platform to keep doors open, along with slowing down time to move to different areas faster or throw boxes while on the move, and finally shift time to discover new items, enter new locations, and land on new boxes. Levels can include multiple doors, pressure platforms, and new platforms as you shift through time.The game dives into it with the help of chat bubbles, allowing the player to glean a bit of the backstory as well as the conflict to come.
