Linn: Path of Orchards Review – A platformer of Monument Valley proportions?

Linn: Path of Orchards is a brand new puzzle platformer that borrows its visual style from Monument Valley. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work in its favour as this platformer just doesn’t live up to ustwo’s effort.

You play as Aban, a guardian of nature who’s on a quest to rejuvenate the ancient tree of light. So you’ll travel through a sky temple navigating a variety of platforms, avoiding obstacles, and collecting stuff.

Sounds pretty standard so far? Well, all of the platforms in every level rotate in a variety of different ways. This starts pretty simple but soon gets pretty complex.

Linn: Path of Orchards is a challenging puzzle platformer

You can jump, double jump, change direction, and dash, and have to use each of those tricks appropriately to make it to the end of the level. Completing a level is just part of the challenge too, as you can also collect special items and complete a level in a set number of moves to earn extra stars.

In theory, you’ve got a solid platformer here that does just about enough to set itself apart from the competition. Rather than just dash mindlessly through a bunch of levels, you’ve got to really think about your approach to each one.

But in practice, it’s all just a little too… janky. When it works, it feels like you’re an absolute boss and it’s incredibly satisfying. But more often than not, we managed to break the game and complete each level with ease.

You can pull off a variety of different moves to complete each level

Basically, you can perform three different moves as soon as you’re in the air. That includes a double jump, a dash, and a directional change. As soon as you land, those moves reset. The problem is, the detection is just a little off. We had moments where we hit a wall and we could perform the moves over again.

That gave us pretty much unlimited moves to work with, making each level a bit redundant. That wouldn’t be as big a problem if you were forced to get all three stars in a single run, but you can do them in three separate runs. So you can just take the easy route through each level, then go back and cheese it to get each item.

The art style also leaves a lot to be desired. If you’re going to borrow the style from something as gorgeous as Monument Valley, then you’re going to have to make sure it lives up to it. Sadly, this doesn’t, and it really stands out as a result.

So what’s our verdict?

Ultimately, Linn: Path of Orchards is a mediocre platformer that attempts to breathe some fresh life into the genre but fails due to janky mechanics and a disappointing art style.