Adventure games have enjoyed a bit of a resurgence lately. Games such as the excellent Syberia, Law and Order, the Cameron Files and the more recent Post Mortem have revitalized the adventure genre. Maybe revitalized is too strong a word, but some of these games are pretty good. This is a welcome sign from the multitude of stinkers offered in previous years.

There are even rumors that the late great Tex Murphy franchise may actually see the light of day again. The queen of adventure Jane Jensen is working on a new project as well. The Longest Journey 2, and the sequel to Syberia are in production. Even the new Lara Croft cash cow has adventure game elements in it. Yes sir things are definitely looking up.

Sure Got Games doesn’t have the clout that other big house developers carry or the budget, but I’ve heard some good things about a prior GG title called The Watchmaker. So when an opportunity to review Rhem arrived I jumped at it.

Rhem is billed as a first person adventure with "brain-teasing" puzzles. This is the part where I tell you about the plot. I’m still trying to figure out what the story is actually. The game begins with a long cutscene of a train car traveling on a barren wasteland of an environment. It finally delivers you to a land called Rhem. We don’t know why we’re here or what exactly Rhem is.

You’ll spend the first part of this adventure clicking through an endless mazelike area depicted through static screenshots. It appears to be an industrialized environment full of catwalks, metal stairs, several building structures, the occasional rocky hill and small bodies of water that do not move. Again there is no indication as to why we are in Rhem.

At this point I finally stumbled back to my train car so I could get the hell out of Rhem when I was suddenly confronted by a slender humanlike glob. Turns out he wants to get the hell out of Rhem too. He decides to rid me of my train. He also tells me how it’s too bad I can’t tag along, but its too late.

After that I just wandered around and opened doors, and got water pumps to spill water in certain spots to open up bridges and other interesting puzzle type stuff. All the while not knowing much about this mysterious land of Rhem. It was too late, and I was gonna find out why damn it.

The game is very similar to Myst. You basically click-click-click your way from screen to screen. There are many puzzles in the game that range from fun to frustrating. The mind twisting convoluted landscape will get your brain frazzled. Unfortunately, navigating was more challenging than puzzle solving, because much of the terrain is similar. I found myself turned around every which way scratching my head. A compass would have been a welcome tool, but sadly there is none.

I solved many of the puzzles by methodical repetition. There are subtle clues located throughout Rhem to lend a helping hand to your tripping brain. My advice is to get a pad and pencil so you can keep track of directions, shapes, patterns and numbers. Trust me you’ll need it.

Eventually we find out that there is a letter consisting of four hidden fragments. You guessed it. The player must track it down and piece it together. As I said before there is not much to the story. Rhem is a brain-teaser that relies heavily on click-click repetition, and is definitely not action orientated or story driven. Still, for an independent company I’ve seen much, much worse.

If you are an obsessive Myst fan (and judging by the amount of units that game sold there are many of you out there) then perhaps you will find pleasure in Rhem’s many puzzles. If you are looking for a story driven classic adventure with memorable characterizations I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

Gameplay: 6
There isn’t much to do here. Point and click. Then spin mouse in desired direction, and click again. The fun (or frustration) is figuring out the solutions to the confounded puzzles. That gameplay happens inside your head.

Graphics: 6.5
Rhem’s graphics are designed for a 16 bit 640-low end resolution, so you will have to change your desktop settings. It will run on higher resolutions. However, the game was prone to crashing on different settings, and the graphics don’t look any better anyway. For the most part the visuals are fine, but far from impressive and not very interesting.

Sound: 6
Rhem is apparently a very lonely place. Aside from wind and squeaking doors there isn’t much to say. The squeaking sounds just like it should.

Difficulty: Hard
There are many puzzles, and I must admit I got stumped several times. The hardest part was constantly traveling from one end of Rhem to the other (and then back again) in order to complete certain parts. As I said a compass would have been incredibly useful at times.

Concept: 6
I suppose one can compare this game to Myst. There isn’t much of a story, but it wasn’t all that bad.

Overall: 6.5
There isn’t a lot to complain about with Rhem. It’s just not a very engrossing product. If you really like solving puzzles for the hell of it, I’m sure you’ll dig this game. Just make sure to bring patience.