Glaze Cup: Journey to the West
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Glaze Cup: Journey to the West
Game
Game2016
Quern - Undying Thoughts
Developer Zadbox Entertainment
Quern – Undying Thoughts is an adventure video game by Zadbox Entertainment. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Quern was released for Xbox One on April 24, 2020. The game was developed by four Hungarian graduate students, one of whom lives in the United Kingdom. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
226 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 2, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
86
LovedLoved
175 positive · 29 negative
95% range 80–90%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 175 | 29 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 3 | 0 | 17 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,539 of 2,799 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
85% recommend · 167 yes, 29 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 196 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (3,733 of 4,114 positive).
Players praise the puzzles as excellent, logical, and satisfying. [1][2][3] Some reviewers find the story weak or the world-building lacking. [2][4][5] A few players report issues with obtuse puzzles or colorblind accessibility. [6][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
I'm colourblind so cannot progress past the alchemy lab area. There's no warning that there will be colour-based puzzles and can't see a colourblind mode anywhere so now it seems I've wasted my money on this game
- [1]
Legitimately one of the best puzzle games I've ever played. If you're on the fence their next game Dimhaven has a demo and is a good taste of their game design philosophy.
- [3]
This is a fantastic puzzle game that really respects the player’s intelligence. The island itself isn’t the most colourful place – the palette leans heavily into muted greys and dull browns – but the slightly subdued visuals actually help to focus attention on what the game does best: its puzzles. Every puzzle I encountered felt logical, grounded, and fair. Solutions make physical sense within the world, and the …
- [4]
A lovely Myst-like that checks the most important box: the puzzles are up to snuff. There's all the heavy hitters: intricate gadgets, otherworldly science, and alien pictographs. All reward thoughtful tinkering, and all are a pleasure to suss out. What it lacks is the world-building that the great prior art possesses. It's not that the graphics don't pop. They're as crisp as they need to be. There's just an element …
- [2]
The story is kind of kaka, but I'd rank all of the puzzles between good and excellent. A must play for puzzle-lovers in my eyes, highly recommended.
Summarised from 34 of the 218 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
85% of the 196 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Quern - Undying Thoughts. The complaint that keeps coming up: story is generic or uninteresting. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
According to review aggregator website Metacritic, Quern received "generally favorable" reviews. Critics considered the game bore a strong resemblance to Myst and Riven, with Kevin Hoelscher of Adventure Gamers comparing its motifs of portals, machinery and deserted islands. Describing Quern as "the Riven successor we never got", Hayden Dingman of PC World viewed the game as featuring a similar visual and gameplay design, highlighting its "unique and unusual" world design and "grim and lonesome" tone. Hoelscher felt the game lacked features that distinguished it from these titles, but felt Quern was "technically polished", featured a "top-notch" visual presentation, and had a large variety…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 226 · most liked firstThe first game I've ever played with my wife. 12 Years of marriange and I have never found a game that's held her interest for more than 5 minutes, now we're 13 hours in and it's the greatest experience of all time
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm colourblind so cannot progress past the alchemy lab area. There's no warning that there will be colour-based puzzles and can't see a colourblind mode anywhere so now it seems I've wasted my money on this game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I didn't particularly enjoy the game mostly because you constantly have to search for where to go next. You solve one puzzle and somewhere on the island some door openes that you need to find, runnning to and fro across the island dozends of times searching. Often you get into a new room, see some machinery and only after some looking and trying around you realize that you can't do anything with it yet and have to go somewhere else first. I ended up using a walkthrough to find the next puzzle,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game suffers heavily from abstract 'moon logic' Instead of rewarding clever thinking, it just leaves you wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what the developers were even thinking When a puzzle game gets so obscure that you're forced to follow a walkthrough just to progress, it stops being fun and just becomes a boring chore Refunded
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved Dimhaven from this developer, but literally every other review on Dimhaven is "Quern was better and prettier". It isn't. Dimhaven is interesting from the moment you start, it has a unique art style, the puzzles are tough, but always fair. Quern feels like Myst we have at home. Some generic sounding letters, some island frozen in time. Everything looks very drab and very grey. And the puzzles... One of the first puzzles is a sliding block puzzle. Which you then have to do a second…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Legitimately one of the best puzzle games I've ever played. If you're on the fence their next game Dimhaven has a demo and is a good taste of their game design philosophy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The story is kind of kaka, but I'd rank all of the puzzles between good and excellent. A must play for puzzle-lovers in my eyes, highly recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like space, you should play **Homeworld** and its sequels. Incredible game. If you like chill strategy, try **Terra Nil**, **Islanders**, and **Terrascape** -- they're all really fun and Terrascape has turn-based multiplayer! If you like puzzle games like Myst, Cyan has **Obduction** and the slightly controversial **Firmament**, which I thought was a lot of fun. **Quern - Undying Thoughts** is in the same vein and feels a lot like Myst or Riven. If you like Halo's multiplayer with…
neutral · AI labelView post →In spite of not being able to recommend this game, it is very well done and will definitely be appreciated by a select audience. It is in the Myst genre, with beautiful and imaginative graphics and lots of gears and buttons. The story is fine, with two possible endings, each which ends on a positive note. But the puzzles - they are a deal breaker. I'm not a novice to this type of game, having played everything from Zork to Myst to The Witness, but this one really stretched the limits of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some parts are confusing and running back and forth was driving me up the wall, a game for others but not for me
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've had this game for a while and just recently replayed it, and it really holds up well. I think the puzzle design is top notch. Yes, the puzzles are not integrated with the worldbuilding, but that's on purpose (the story explains why), and I genuinely don't mind that. Come for the puzzles, ignore the story. More detail: The good: - Puzzles feel great to solve - The best one is the Library puzzle, the aha moment is genuinely wonderful - Graphics are quite pretty. A bit on the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ham-fisted and boring story. Way too many "puzzles" that were just tedious tasks requiring you to transcribe a checklist, then look at the checklist, and just do the thing on the checklist. Sometimes having to do the same tedious thing multiple times (looking at you alchemy puzzle). Some good puzzles in here though, but a lot of filler and garbage, and way too much time spent looking for whatever door just opened somewhere on the map.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably one of, if not the, best puzzle games I've played. My only issue is it's a little too long. I was ready to be done with the game like 2 sections ago...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The not recommended from me is purely based on the expectation I had for the game going into it. I was expecting a casual somewhat linear game with puzzles that would take some time and thinking, but that was not what I got. More details below. Having said that, if you are a fan of long winded complex puzzles and exploring every nook and cranny a world has to offer, you might like this. So I'm not saying the game is bad, just not my cup of tea. I can see other people liking this more than I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I found this game waaaay late to the party, and kind of accidentally. I got recommended to wishlist their new upcoming (in 2026) game Dimhaven, because of my playtime in the DaVinci games, and was intrigued because its said "From the developers of Quern", which I had never heard of. Turn out I had, I had looked at the kickstarter a million years ago. I grew up on games like Myst, and other similar point/click/walk puzzle games, so this was right up my alley, and I've been on a kick of these…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fairly solid recommendation for a flawed but very well made game. Okay, so it's like Myst. Except I don't get to make that comparison, really, because I don't recall exactly how Myst was; because I was a little kid when I played this game on PC and didn't understand sh*t about it; and I was a teen when I actually finished it on Nintendo DS. But the vibes are Myst...is what I'm going to assume based of screenshots of Myst. Look, if that is a useful comparison to you, cool! You like Myst? You…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quern: Undying Thoughts Its a puzzle game set on a Myst…erious island that was once inhabited by an inventor
neutral · AI labelView post →Quick review: A fun puzzle game, with not a lot of hints, so you can't just breeze through it. Story rich, and leads you through the lore so you can eventually make your own decision. What you get to play: Quern is a puzzle game that isn't a room to room puzzle. You are brought to an island you need to "solve". These puzzles are arranged so you can unlock parts of different places. You can revisit any area (sortof) and use it (like potions or telescope) again to solve new puzzles. Very…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While there are some very good puzzles and a nostalgic Myst-ish atmosphere and sense of exploration, multiple basic accessibility issues keep me from recommending this game. There are multiple puzzles related to the Alchemy Lab area where you need to be able to distinguish between several different colors. There's multiple types of colorblindness, and most of them would make this area a brick wall. There are also multiple different colored crystals throughout the game, and while the various…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fantastic puzzle game that really respects the player’s intelligence. The island itself isn’t the most colourful place – the palette leans heavily into muted greys and dull browns – but the slightly subdued visuals actually help to focus attention on what the game does best: its puzzles. Every puzzle I encountered felt logical, grounded, and fair. Solutions make physical sense within the world, and the game consistently teaches you how its systems work without resorting to cheap…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played about 1.5 hours and made it to the alchemy lab for an idea of how far I made it yet I feel no desire to continue. Absolute deal breakers before the main review: If you are colorblind you simply cannot play this game, don't even waste your time. Color is integral to the game. If you want to rebind movement keys you have to set a launch option, you can't do so from within the game. Why? I have no idea but it feels very amateur in this regard. The accessibility is also bad with some…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve just started this soothing peaceful puzzle game on the SteamDeck. If you pick this up for the SteamDeck you’ll need to change the controller layout to a Community Layout one which uses the thumbsticks to move the cursor in the menus maybe turn off the gyro too as I found it annoying. The best layout is called “ Steam Controller Keyboard Bindings “ by Spencerhargiss. It’s the top one which is the best I found. The game starts off and you know this is a chill relaxing game you can play…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →insanely good. second only to riven in my (linking) book
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I went into Quern not knowing much outside of it being a wonderful puzzle game. I had expected to blitz through all the puzzles and marvel at just a good story. Well, 9 hours in, a couple of guides and, i can safely say that i did not blitz through this. The Puzzles were difficult but understandable. The story was amazing and a unique twist on the World of Puzzles. I found myself enjoying the whole experience. (Aside from a interesting problem near the end. Where I was confused how the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Head empty, only Quern: Undying Thoughts. 🤔💭 I've adjusted some settings in the game that will hopefully make me less motion sick, but in case it doesn't I'll limit these streams to only 1-2 hours. Art by @iamnemuru.bsky.social www.twitch.tv/karugi_vt #pngtuber #vtuber #envtuber #streamschedule
neutral · AI labelView post →Concept is good, lore is good, and some of the puzzles are really well designed (original), but as a whole it just doesn't bite for me. You'll use more time looking for, and identifying, the puzzles than you will spend on the puzzles themselves. Some of the connecting dots are straight up ad-hoc madness. I'm getting through it, but it honestly has brought more "Where tf am I going?" and "Omg, I have to repeat that entire sequence" than it produced a genuine keenness to continue.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game! Completely Myst-like, maybe not quite as atmospheric, but still excellent all the same. Runs fine on my low-power work laptop with Iris XE graphics. 6.5/7 would recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quernesce needs to be a Steam tag. It would only be used for a few game but this is definitely one of them
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For my first open world puzzle game Quern is really good although getting lost here is the norm, the hint for the item are useful but they aren't enough sometime, and some point later where u have a lot of things u will forget that u have an item to help the puzzle The puzzle itself is good, nothing too crazy for it, there is a lot of context and visual clue that help with it too Also an important note DEV REALLY NEED TO ADD EPILEPSY WARNING FOR GREEN CRYSTAL TELEPORT, I got flashed like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Real brain teaser.. the puzzles get really tricky and you definitely need a pen and paper and a lot of patience. No hints button but you are given some clues if you pay attention to the right things. I enjoyed it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is not very fun and puzzles are quite unclear and obtuse. It's not fun to run around constantly checking combinations of things and (almost) blindly testing your items at different fitting slots to see whether anything will happen. The game should give better environmental clues to prevent this situation I think. I feel like the game is constantly trying to trip the player up as a way to prove it's "hard". I managed to come to a certain point in the game without looking at a guide…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quern delivers on its premise but does so in a very uninspired way. It is a myst clone, down to the lore, so if you need a myst fix get it on sale. The game is set in a small island where the player walks around in search of the next solvable puzzle, which will in turn open another puzzle, etc. In this sense the game is very linear and typically there is only one open puzzle at a given time. The puzzles themselves are mostly rehashes of the most overused tropes in the genre: Connect the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →38. Quern: Undying Thoughts i thought the puzzle would be tiresome, but i ended up hooked, moreover from mid to end game. The puzzles are so well-made! i love it! Needs a lot of remembering since the place is kinda huge for a puzzle game.
positive · AI labelView post →Quern is not a homage to Myst and other such games, it learns from them and surpasses them in every way. In some ways it should be expected after so much time between them but you still rarely see titles of this quality. If you are a fan of puzzles then stop reading this and buy it already.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Going to try Quern: Undying Thoughts again. If the motion sickness gets bad, I may switch over to Heart of the Machine. www.twitch.tv/karugi_vt
neutral · AI labelView post →A lovely Myst-like that checks the most important box: the puzzles are up to snuff. There's all the heavy hitters: intricate gadgets, otherworldly science, and alien pictographs. All reward thoughtful tinkering, and all are a pleasure to suss out. What it lacks is the world-building that the great prior art possesses. It's not that the graphics don't pop. They're as crisp as they need to be. There's just an element of surprise, visual and aural wonder, that the locations are missing. And that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today I'm starting Quern: Undying Thoughts! This 10 year old Myst-like adventure game has been sitting in my backlog for the longest time, and I'm excited to finally look into it! www.twitch.tv/karugi_vt
neutral · AI labelView post →TLDR One of the better Myst-inspired puzzle adventures, polished and more approachable, though less ambitious and lighter on narrative depth. [16/20⭐, 13h🏅(+0.5h all achievements), 3/5💡] Context Quern is a puzzle-adventure game clearly inspired by [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/macwh/recommended/63660/]the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/macwh/recommended/63610/]Myst [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/macwh/recommended/925930/]series…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a pleasant surprise, it was really good! I went into it with a bit of skepticism because recently i've played Neyyah which was really horrible while promising to be a Myst like experience and people in there recommended Quern in the reviews, but Quern is on a whole different level! The puzzles were fun and neither too easy nor too hard, just the right amount of intriguing to be fun, while clues given to discover what to do were also well made, so discovering the whole world, area by…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The puzzles became very difficult and strange and so I had to rely on a guide which kind of wasted the experience for me. There should have been a tips system in the game like other puzzle games that help you out when you get stuck. Not having this means you rely on out of game help. The one I used was wrong at points and so I had to rely on a second help video which showed exactly what to do. To be honest even being given the answers to some of these puzzles I still don't get them. So if…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Puzzles are unsatisfying, there is A LOT of backtracking required as the game progresses and at times the controls are infuriating. Its an interesting concept but the execution made it more frustrating than anything else.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was an excellent puzzle game. A large variety of rather intricate puzzle. Most were absolute hits that i felt such gratification upon solving. The were however some misses. A few puzzles were left up to your own interpretation of things like directions and sound. The Corridor for instance, was not a pleasant puzzle. Lots of back and forth, trial and error. However those few bad puzzles are vastly outweighed by the amount of great ones.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Was really fun and nicely long, with lots of puzzles and a solid storyline. There is a lot of running back and forth, which adds to the exploration, but I sometimes found myself getting lost or forgetting what I needed to do next. Some puzzles were extremely difficult as well, and I ended up needing a guide at certain points. I recommend trying it, but it was definetely more difficult than House of Davinci.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a puzzle game, Quern is pretty good. Theres quite a lot of puzzles, some are easy enough, some make you think, some make you bring out the pen and paper, and some, unfortunately, are meant to be completed by plain trial and error. If I bought a game that advertised: this is the box of puzzles finish a puzzle and click to go the next, I would be satisfied. However, this game decided to introduce a story, and advertised mysteries, history, exploration, etc etc, so now I have to factor all…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quern – Undying Thoughts is a meticulously crafted first-person puzzle adventure that places curiosity, observation, and intellectual persistence at the heart of its experience. Developed by Zadbox Entertainment and published by Blue Brain Games alongside Zadbox Entertainment, the game clearly draws inspiration from classic exploration-driven puzzle titles, yet it confidently establishes its own identity through cohesive world design and a strong sense of atmosphere. From the moment you arrive…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I dislike that you can get stuck and have no solution. Even the walk throughs are confusing. I have tried this game and started it over a couple of time with walk throughs and was still stuck on the rock sort area. The reviews were all pretty positive but I must not be as smart or game savvy as the rest. If you are not really good at figuring these things out, I would pass on this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As someone who has played Myst and Riven a few years back, this managed to scratch the same itch! The island of Quern oozes the same lonely atmosphere, and its puzzles make you explore every inch of it (thankfully there’s an in-game notebook). Some sections were unfortunately unintuitive or required leaps in logic I was not prepared for, but overall I had a good time. Haec indicia superflua sunt, tu modo perdis operam
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a puzzle fan I was very much enjoying the journey here. Nice tribute to Myst with (in my opinion) less focus on world building and overarching mystery and more self-contained puzzles. The puzzles are crunchy and I often needed a pen and paper to solve them - happens rarely these days and I like that. Many of them are pretty generic though and that also applies to the story. I was pretty disappointed by the black-or-white (quite literally) kind of choice you are presented in the end. Would…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Puzzles can be very complex and sometimes confusing, that is not a game for everyone ... and I feel sometimes I spend more time on finding what is the problem, where are the buttons to activate something than actually thinking about the solving the puzzle. I used the walkthrough from mid game each time I was stuck, otherwise I would be at least +60hrs. But overall good game. Story is interesting I wish they would have push a bit more on this part. The world could be more interesting, it looks…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good puzzle game. As a fan of the Myst series, I recognize the influences and references. It's not long, but the atmosphere, music, and tiredness of the day made me fall asleep with the game running while I tried to solve some of the puzzles. One complaint: some puzzles border on guesswork. Clues that require very specific mental connections to reveal themselves. It can lead to frustration, especially those that rely on randomness. Developers need to be aware that the connections they…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like this game. The puzzles were fun and atmospheric, exploring the island was a delight. The environment was also gorgeous, there were several locations that had me pausing just to enjoy the view. The only thing missing I think was a colorblind mode, I had to get my mom to help me with alchemy puzzles because I couldn't tell which powders were which. I would’ve also liked a third ending option, because neither character has made a good job of convincing me they were correct and I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quern is exactly the kind of game I love: pure, well-designed puzzles that challenge your logical reasoning and give you that satisfying feeling of being a genius when you finally crack them. The puzzles follow a natural progression, constantly introducing new ideas and never feeling repetitive. Every single one is clever and enjoyable to solve. The story takes a backseat to the gameplay, but I found it well-written and more than enough to keep me invested in the game's quest. I always…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quern is possibly the most Myst-like of all the Myst-Like games I've played (compared to the 3D Myst and Riven remakes). I only played it because I liked the House of Davinci games, and I wanted to check out the team's first game. To my surprise, I found Quern to be much better than the House of Davinci games. Most of the puzzled had enough clues in the surrounding environment to help you solve them, and I really liked that part of the game. The only issue I had with this game is that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best games I've played for a while - quite hard puzzles in places and some difficult to spot items to continue but overall really very good. I actually played with a friend by sharing screens so we both could work on the puzzles as there is no two player option but it worked really well. I would totally recommend this to anyone that likes puzzle solving. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a good puzzle game. It starts quite strong, but over time it relies more and more not on actual puzzle solving skill (ie: working with the information you have to find a solution) but more about separating the pieces of information so that the solution is obvious, but simply a pain in the ass to construct. It will also simply give you items and expect you to remember exactly where to backtrack in order to continue, while also disallowing you from placing markers on the map…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very drab and boring world, puzzle are even more obtuse, I tried twice but found it to be really boring, there is no mystery just pointless slogging. People who try to make games like Myst forget that it had a very strong writing behind that game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you wish they still made games like Myst, good news: Quern. The plot was kinda iffy and the performance is suspect, but hoo boy this scratched my Myst itch.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the game overall, but some of the puzzles didn't click with me, so I just used a walkthrough for those.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →haven't finished it yet, the *actual* puzzle solving is good (to a degree). Connecting where and what is used for what puzzles is the big problem. it makes you wander around aimlessly trying out every little thing to see what correlates with what. (that isn't to say with all of the things you get, some you can sus out "oh this probably goes to this area that I found earlier", most situations are "FINALLY. this is where this goes") formula: get weird doohickey, search around for a while until it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Glad I finally completed this. Picked it up and bounced off it as I wasn't making enough notes. 5 Years later (and arguably more intelligent?) I made it through the first couple of puzzles and was hooked. I needed the guide on the audio puzzles, as I struggle with tone & pitch, but otherwise some great puzzles. Make lots of notes & use a pen and paper. The built in note/screenshot options are not enough for some of the symbol/shape puzzles.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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