Sceal (iOS) Review

Starting up a game like Scéal is a pleasant experience. It feels extremely welcoming to be met by a beautiful art style and music that sets the mood nicely. The feeling of magic is there right from the beginning, and lasts til the very end. While Scéal is a very aesthetically appealing game it is worth keeping in mind that there is little to no actual gameplay to it besides visiting the world the game takes place in, which is by far enough for those looking for a beautiful game. The gameplay mostly consists of flying around from one point to another and repaint cursed parts of the world or talking to people and so on. While it might not sound like much, the surrounding environment ensures that it will be a more than pleasant experience.

It is sadly not pleasant for the phone battery though. Scéal sadly drains the phone's battery like a sponge. It is rare to get more than an hour of gameplay out of a fully charged battery, unless the phone is fresh, which is a huge drawback considering that people use their phones mainly for other stuff during the day, and running out of battery quick is a huge deal breaker on the format as it completely removes the portability factor.

Despite this, Scéal is a beautiful, yet very simple game, that offers great environments and stories to uncover. It is just a shame that the battery issue makes each visit a short one that always feels like it ends prematurely when figuring out that going below 20% might make it so that the battery does not last the rest of the day.