Previewed: October 17, 2006
Previewed by: Jeff Gedgaud

Publisher
The Adventure Company

Developer
Streko-Graphics

Release Date: Q1, 2007
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB: Pending

Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Aura 2: The Sacred Rings is the sequel to Aura: Fate of the Ages from The Adventure Company and Streko-Graphics. The Adventure Company is widely known for its Syberia and Nancy Drew adventure games. Following right on the heels of Aura: Fate of the Ages you are to continue your attempt to secure the Sacred Rings, a set of rings that when combined with artifacts gives the bearer great powers like immortality. Using simple point and click with object combining you must solve puzzles to bring the rings safely to the Keepers.

Features of Aura 2: The Sacred Rings:

  • Vast, rich environments to explore including a unique house with a hidden secret, Manula Valley, the residing place of an old witch and an ancient warlock and the old Keeper’s Tower now controlled by your brutal adversary.
  • Easy to navigate mouse-driven, point-and-click interface.
  • Numerous original and creative puzzles to solve and challenge you.
  • A proprietary engine that blends together beautiful pre-rendered graphics and environmental interaction with immersive special effects.
  • More than 40 minutes of incredible cut-scenes.
  • More than 400 beautiful locations to fully-explore.
  • Numerous characters to interact with.
  • An astonishing musical score with 8 varied themes to compliment gameplay.
In The Sacred Rings you are continuing the story from the first Aura game with the same character Umang starting with an escape from some uncouth bad guys and making your way to Manula Valley. You then have to gain entrance to the Keepers realm to give them the rings. You meet some interesting characters along the way and have more logic and puzzle solving to finish before you complete your quest. In one section of the game you are even traveling between realms or parallel universes to find solutions to some puzzles.

One of the first things that I noticed in Sacred Rings and that continued through the game as I puzzled my way through was the stunning graphics, cut scenes and really great transitions from one scene to the next. The very good looking cut scenes bring you the story of what is happening along with the more complex actions that occur from your successful solution to many puzzles.

Some of the cut scenes continue the plot as well as to give you a better idea of what has occurred in the past and why you are helping secure the rings. Other scenes are to show what occurs when you complete a puzzle or are clues to help you along your way toward the end. All of the scenes I saw were well rendered and looked very good, especially one where you are on a sort of roller coaster traveling along between different worlds.

There is some very good background music and well acted voices that match the characters that I got to hear. In many of the scenes there are some very good background sounds very fitting to the areas like a forest scene with wildlife sounds and a graveyard area with its eerie noises. All the sounds added well to the feel and ambiance of each area you are in according to the type of scene. All the noises and sounds were very well done and many times you could swear they were things happening in the same room and not on your computer.

After the first few scenes with you roaming around the area you awaken in the story starts to make some sense. You are given more and more clues and pieces of the larger story to fill in the gaps along the way. I’m sure playing the first game would have helped but in all they give some very good clues and fill in the gaps nicely with the cut scenes and stories some characters tell you.

Overall I was very impressed with the visuals and all the various graphics and cutscenes. Aura 2: The Sacred Rings looks to be a very well made and interesting adventure game from veteran adventure puzzle maker The Adventure Company.

While we anxiously await the release of this great looking new title, check out our collection of stunning screenshots in our Preview Gallery.