Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The Book of Watermarks begins with a familiar invitation for fans of first-person puzzle adventures: you arrive somewhere beautiful and forbidding, are given a grand problem to solve, and start testing the meaning of every symbol and sealed passage in sight. Ferdinand’s job is to find Prospero’s twelve vanished magic books, and each recovered route is tied to puzzles that open the way forward. It is a clean goal, which helps when the island’s individual locations start feeling cryptic.

The book of watermarks is the game’s most helpful idea. Rather than leaving you entirely alone with a collection of locks, it offers hints toward the next puzzle. That does not turn the game into a guided tour, and it should not. The pleasure here comes from comparing a clue with the environment, noticing a useful detail, and finally making an inaccessible place yield. If you enjoy Myst because it lets you sit with a problem until the answer clicks, this structure will feel comfortably familiar.

Frustration is part of the bargain. The island is largely a solitary place, and the search is built around unlocking routes rather than a constant stream of character encounters or dramatic interruptions. When a clue does not land, there is little to do except reconsider what you have seen and consult the book again. That makes it a better fit for a patient notebook-and-pause kind of session than for anyone who wants brisk momentum.

Graphics

Prospero’s island has a striking mix of monumental architecture and open sea. One location frames a heavy carved doorway with tall stone columns against bright blue water and clouds, while the palace exterior rises like a dark, elaborate Gothic cathedral under the same saturated sky. The contrast gives the journey a welcome sense of moving through a magical place built from different grand traditions.

Some puzzle spaces are much gloomier, with shadowy stone walls and a dim green-numbered panel that can look murky beside the more detailed exteriors. The book itself is more inviting, appearing as aged parchment marked by a bold compass-like illustration. Jack Donner’s Prospero arrives in live-action scenes with a warmly lit, theatrical close-up that suits the role.

Story

The game takes Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a loose foundation rather than simply reenacting it. Prospero has been betrayed and exiled from Milan, bringing thirteen magic tomes to an uninhabited island where he builds a palace, temple, and library. When all but the book of watermarks disappear, he loses the magic that sustains his island creations. It is a strong setup because the missing books are not arbitrary collectibles. Their absence is the reason the island is in danger.

You arrive as Ferdinand after a sea tempest and inherit Prospero’s problem. That casting makes you an outsider entering an old magician’s carefully constructed world, which fits the exploratory format well. The mystery is less about complicated character drama and more about uncovering what Prospero has lost and restoring the order he created.

Prospero is the only character shown, played by Jack Donner in live-action interludes, so the story’s success rests heavily on his presence and the atmosphere of his predicament. The English voice acting and Japanese subtitles give this PlayStation release an unusual cross-cultural texture. Do not expect a crowded Shakespeare adaptation. Think of it as a focused magical-library mystery with Prospero as its single human anchor.

Overall Experience

The Book of Watermarks has the deliberate rhythm of a late-1990s puzzle adventure that expects you to meet it halfway. Its best quality is how naturally the premise, clues, and progression fit together: a catalog of books helps find lost books, and each solution restores access to another part of an endangered magician’s island. That coherence gives the puzzle hunt more purpose than a string of unrelated locks.

Its limits are equally clear. This is a quiet, solitary game centered on careful observation, and its loose Shakespeare connection provides atmosphere more than an expansive retelling. You need to enjoy puzzling through obscure spaces for the sake of discovery itself. If that sounds draining, the game’s measured pace will likely wear thin before its mystery deepens.

For the right gamer, though, there is real charm in wandering between sunlit ruins, Gothic stonework, and dim puzzle chambers with a magical book as your guide. Give it a chance if you want a compact Myst-style detour with literary flavor and can accept the occasional dead end as part of the experience. It is not broadly welcoming, but it has enough mood and a well-matched central premise to reward patient adventurers.

Retro Replay Score

5.8/10