Looking for a new video game to get sucked into? If you’re a fan of story driven games, sci-fi, interesting artwork, and atmospheric music look no further! Although relatively speaking Primordia is an older title by today’s standards (released originally in 2012), I believe it didn’t get the attention it deserved. I don’t blame the gaming communities at large though, it’s definitely a niche genre of video games – point and click.

However this may be perceived, it doesn’t really feel like a point and click. Well, maybe it does, but I guess the point is the game is so engaging and interesting that you don’t mind that you are mindless pointing and clicking all over the place to progress.

Horatio (left), Crispin (Right)
Horatio (left), Crispin (Right)

The Primordia World

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, you play as Horatio Nullbuilt a robot who has crashed his ship on a desert planet inhabited by other robots. Horatio is not lonely on his adventure to fix his ship, he is accompanied by his pesky companion Crispin Horatiobuilt.

As the two explore the world, it becomes obvious fairly early in the game that Horatio is fascinated with “Man”. Horatio has a copy of the Book of Man, which to Horatio is everything including divine in a sense. The beginning passage reads:

In the beginning, all was still and silent. Then, Man the All-Builder spoke Word, and the Word begat the Code, and so the world began to spin. Thus dawned the Primordium, the first age, the age of building.

The Book of Man
The Book of Man

Primordia Game Mechanics

The main mechanics of the game are world exploration, crafting, and puzzle solving. The items you find in the game each have pre-determined usage, but figuring out how to use your items, how to craft what you need for any given job makes you feel like a genius. As a programmer by profession, the puzzles make me smile as they are realistic and grounded in real-world mechanics, ideas, and logic. Many of the puzzles do not have simple solutions either. And map reuse is a key part of the game. Obtain one item at X, travel back to W, before going to Y. I honestly wrote some things down to better manage what I had going on in the game (mainly numbers for key codes and such).

Metropol

Final Remarks

The world is believable and enthralling as you embark to uncover the darker places in search of the energy power source you need to leave this crazy place. Eventually your journey will lead you to the city of Metropol where Horatio and Crispin fight for their very lives.

Compared to other games in the same vain such as Beneath a Steel Sky and Machinarium, Primordia offers an amazing and rememberable experience which is why you should play Primordia.