The Sojourn Critic Reviews

The Sojourn is one of the best games of the year and one of the best puzzle games available, if not the best. Every single puzzle is meticulously designed and challenges you in satisfying ways, without ever feeling impossible. Carefully crafted, beautiful levels. An uplifting, philosophical story that asks you to reflect upon your actions and the world around you. All of these ingredients create an experience like no other and a game you will be thinking about even after the credits have rolled.

Many puzzle games these days try to hold your hand too much, but The Sojourn certainly does not. At the same time this beautiful and serene atmosphere ensures that you don't get too frustrated.

The Sojourn is a peaceful yet thought-provoking puzzle game with beautiful visuals. The only bits of story are told through dioramas, so it isn't spelled out for you. With a sense of wonder and interesting puzzle mechanics, you'll have a great time seeing how clever you truly are.

Guarantees at least a few hours of intensive intellectual training and a substantial exam for special awareness and imagination. If you miss the likes of The Witness and The Talos Principle, definitely put it on your wishlist.

The Sojourn delivers where it counts, offering players a wide variety of puzzles that are as deep as they are engaging. It’s worth your time, even if the game’s graphics aren’t exactly state-of-the-art.

The Sojourn is based on an interesting concept, although the game has some narrative limitations. The puzzles are nice and pleasant to solve, but in some phases a greater level of challenge would have been better.

The Sojourn is a well-made, standard puzzle game that every fan of the genre should try it.

A few hours in, you'll likely find yourself scratching your head as seemingly impossible puzzles best you. This can naturally be frustrating, especially as you move so slowly, but you'll feel like a genius once everything clicks. Many stages have optional bonus challenges once you solve them, earning you collectable scrolls complete with philosophical mumbo-jumbo. The main story is more interesting, told wordlessly through a series of dioramas, but it's the puzzles themselves that will keep you playing. It's not exactly original, but The Sojourn is a solid puzzler with well designed levels and some nice ideas.

While the merits and the story are shallow and uninteresting, the gameplay’s failure to integrate with them reduces them to superfluous trappings that can mostly be ignored. This leaves the focus squarely on the puzzles, and it’s here that The Sojourn almost hits the mark. Although they don’t fully reach their potential, the levels are at times deep and fascinating — and neither of those words could apply to the script.

The Sojourn is a beautiful game with numerous extremely clever puzzles but it has a hard time balancing its story and difficulty curve. I honestly wish I liked this game more than I did. It has a lot going for it, but if I hadn’t been reviewing it, I would not have made it to the end. Though seemingly inspired by some of the best games ever, The Sojourn falters in its ambition. On the other hand, if you like first-person puzzle games and want to stare at something incredibly pretty for a while, you could do a lot worse than The Sojourn.

First-person puzzle platformer resembling the much-loved Portal, but lacking in storytelling and replayability value.

The Sojourn accomplishes some cool moments, but the space between them is dull, leaving you stranded in a sterile world with a predictable rhythm.

If you like games like The Witness, The Talos Principle or Obduction, this solid puzzle-adventure might scratch your itch.

The Sojourn is the equivalent of one of those big books of crosswords you can buy at the supermarket check-out. Its puzzles are well-constructed and provide a nice mental workout, but they’re all rather one-note, and the game’s world is dry as toast. If you’re a hardcore puzzle nerd, give The Sojourn a shot, but those expecting to be taken on a deeper journey may be disappointed.

The Sojourn is a first-person puzzle game with surprisingly difficult brain teasers wrapped in artsy, ethereal graphics, that are not rewarding enough.

The Sojourn is a well-made puzzle game with a firm challenge and fresh mechanics layered in throughout, but the symbolism draped over it all is vague and boring.