Nairi: Tower of Shirin

Nairi: Tower of Shirin is a witty, cute, and quirky point-and-click adventure. Silly and slightly morbid, Nairi shines with unique characters, hand-drawn artwork, and challenging but fair puzzles. It is held back slightly by some confusing navigation, a few bugs, and the inability to save your progress, but this charming little gem is a must-play for fans of the genre.

Nairi: Tower of Shirin from HomeBearStudio is a point-and-click adventure game set in the city of Shirin. The game boasts a unique art style and an intriguingly strong narrative. I was expecting your run of the mill point-and-click game, however Nairi was big surprise for me.

Imagine waking up one morning to realize the world isn’t quite what you thought it was. That child-like innocence of being protected from the harsh reality of the world stripped away, and yet the only thing you have to keep you safe is… a band of misfit thieving cats? NAIRI: Tower of Shirin is a point-and-click puzzle adventure plucked from the same fabric as your classic Disney tale, and while it can take a little time to get going, the adventures of Nairi are sure to grab your attention and drag you along for the ride.

These instances are not too common, thankfully. At its heart, Nairi: Tower of Shirin is a magical adventure. It contains quite serviceable puzzles and a solid set of character dialogue that should hold your attention for most of the narrative. I might not personally pick this up as my own first choice but what Nairi attempts to do, it does well. If you are looking for a quiet afternoon on the sofa or something to play with younger audiences then Nairi: Tower of Shirin is a tale of adventure t...

Verdict: Whilst limited in scope, Nairi does a lot more right than it does wrong. This family-friendly point and click is a great candidate to kill a few hours if you just want to relax after a stressful day. I’d say the Switch version is probably optimal but I had no real issues with the Steam version either. It’s just that a touch screen would have been really nice. At ten bucks, if you have even the slightest interest in point and click games, you’d be doing yourself an injustice by not picking this adorable game up.

Apparently NAIRI: Tower of Shirin is only the first part of the story. It ended just as things really started to pick up, leaving the majority of its questions unanswered. I assume the developers intend to make a sequel, but the lack of resolution left me disappointed in what was otherwise a fun adventure.