Finding a puzzle game that is designed to be played with a friend can be a wonderful experience, however, if the game isn’t built in a way that works for both players then it could be an upsetting experience. When developers Madlife Divertissement created Zorya: The Celestial Sisters, it seems that they had a good idea on what to present but ended up with an overall questionable title.

Story

After the citizens living under the reign of Aysu or Solveig, the gods of Day and Night, it quickly became apparent that there was some favoritism for the gift of Daylight. Upset to be forgotten and underappreciated, the god of night, Aysu, ran away and found herself stranded on Earth! Now, with the help of her sister Solveig, they must find her a way back to the sky!

Gameplay

There really isn’t too much to the gameplay, and that is where the main concern on the build is. Each level that loads up has a simple goal: reach the icon at the end that will help bring Aysu another step closer to the sky. Along the way, there will be one hidden coin that can be found as well.

One player takes on the role of Solveig, the god of Day. In this role, it will be up to you to control the sun’s location and utilize the power of the sun to help Aysu. Since she can not step out of the shadows, you must provide the path that will lead her to the end goal of the level. With a top-down view, you get the best view of the map and can look around to see the best way across, look for enemies, find the switches for the puzzle, and so on.

The other player takes on the role of Aysu, the god of Night. In this role, it will be up to you to reach the icon without leaving the shadows. You have the ground-level view, so when it comes to looking inside buildings and under coverings, it is up to you to find different aspects that are harder to see from a top-down view. Typically, this means it will be up to you to find the coin and point out what’s in the nearby buildings.

As you progress through the game, more aspects will be added such as enemies and puzzle elements. While Aryu simply has the ability to push things with a wind power, Solveig is the one that will be able to really do anything about them. Once Aryu pushes them out into the sunlit section of the level, Solveig will be able to hone in the power of the sun to defeat the enemy or trigger the puzzle element. There will be times when Aryu is more helpful than Solveig in these cases, especially later in the game as you find more of the complex puzzles ahead.

Overall, it will always require the efforts of both roles to get things done. Honestly, it doesn’t truly make sense why this game is a forced co-op title. While both roles are important, they can both be controlled by a single player easily. The controls for each character consist of movement and a couple of action buttons, which can easily be split on a controller for a single player. It would be different if this was a game that offered co-op and split the controls as they do but to force co-op just for this truly ruined it. When I play through co-op puzzle games, there is typically a lot of controls and reasoning for each character to be participating, but this game could have easily have been a single-player experience as well.

Audio and Visual

Neither of these aspects was really remarkable in the game. Levels were small and the environment around them was barren. There was little effort done to make each level stand out from each other and it is obvious all of the efforts went into the path of solving the puzzle itself. Having every level look like a barren island with a section in the middle is truly minimal effort. At least the graphics of the game were fittingly cartoonish.

As for the audio, the voice work was pretty well done and had a nice storytelling tone. But the music in the game was practically none existent and the characters in-game, such as enemies, barely make any sounds even when thrown off of a higher floor of a building. The sound effects used for the powers and when platforms moved were decent enough at least.

Replayability

They tried to add some replayability by having a marker above each level to show if you completed it as either Aryu or Solveig so you know that you can switch roles and complete the level again. Problem is, the level is exactly the same and so is the puzzle. So, unless you want to do that, there isn’t really any replayability to it. At least if you are enjoying the game, there are hidden levels you can unlock as well.

What It Could Have Done Better

This game simply had the controls of a single-player puzzle game where you control a single character and the sunlight then split it up between two players. Forcing this game to be a co-op title and not making it offer a co-op experience as well as being playable as a single-player game is truly a baffling choice on the developer’s end.

Not only are you forced to do this game as a co-op title, but you are better off doing it locally. I played this game online with a friend on the Nintendo Switch and we lost connection at least once every 15 minutes. Reconnecting takes about 2-3 minutes as well. It is a very annoying thing to deal with when you are trying to just enjoy a co-op experience with a friend.

Also, as I mentioned before, despite the puzzles being decent (especially in the later levels) the scenery and environment for the levels are so empty and barren. There is nothing to look at if you wanted to even try to enjoy the environment your characters are in.

Verdict

Zorya: The Celestial Sisters seems to have had their head in the right place when creating it, but it just came out as a bland puzzle game that offers little to each player individually. It is such a disappointing experience overall and an unfortunate letdown that could have been better. Hopefully, if they decide to make another puzzle title, they will either offer a single-player experience with the option of co-op or actually provide enough reasoning for two players to be playing the game together.