Last updated on December 17th, 2025 at 02:51 am
Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 – Puzzle Game Review
Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 is a Puzzle/Adventure game from NovaSoft Interactive Limited, first launched in 20th April 2024.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 3,866+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 Stand Out
Welcome to Aurora Hills!
Nestled deep within the Appalachian Mountains, Aurora Hills was known for its thriving industry and its picturesque landscape. Owing to the region's natural resources, Aurora Hills was looking to become one of the most prosperous towns in the state.
All is not how it seems, however. A series of disappearances of residents and tourists alike have plagued the region over the past few years, sparking a mass exodus from the small town. Now, in October 1981, the town is a shell of its former self. The prosperity that once blessed Aurora Hills has all but evaporated.
Working as a park ranger, you must investigate what's going on with these disappearances and answer questions that have tormented residents for years. Why has there been an increase in disappearances over the past 6 months? Why are there no traces of the people who went missing? Perhaps most importantly, who, or what, could be behind all of this? It's up to you to venture forth, deep into the national park, to uncover the mysteries of Aurora Hills…
Developed by the creators of Meridian 157, Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 is the first part in series of point and click puzzle adventure games. Based in the year 1981 in a small West Virginian community, Aurora Hills follows the journey of Ethan Hill, a park ranger tasked with investigating strange disappearances from the region. Explore the rolling hills of West Virginia, find clues of the whereabouts of the missing people and solve intriguing puzzles to uncover the mystery of Aurora Hills!
Features:
• Custom soundtrack and sound effects designed for a creepy in-game atmosphere
• Challenging and clever puzzles
• A logical hint system for some of the most difficult riddles
• Available in 9 languages, including English, French, Russian, German, Chinese (Simplified), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Japanese!
• New colour blind mode available for people who might have trouble with colour based puzzles
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This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 18th November 2024
Recent improvements include:
• Minor bug fixes
Download & Availability
Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Aurora Hills: Chapter 1 on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Its good so far, some of the puzzles however almost no connection to the clues.
This game was very captivating. We also love the fact that the first game of the each series is free with no ads. Highly recommended and excited to see where this video game studios takes us.
We love that this game lets you play without trying to get you to spend money. For anyone that wants to play a good point and click mystery game, this one is the perfect length.
Challenging and rewarding puzzles, intriguing story. Whens the next chapter coming.
We really like this game because it helps us calm down and its so entertaining: 3.
Im just getting rolling, but so far Im enjoying it. The atmosphere is creepy, but spectacular. Puzzles are a little challenging (think Myst), but a challenge is nice. Would recommend so far.
- Puzzles are reliably challenging – Graphics and camera functionality are better than previous release (Meridian 157) – Expert puzzlers who cut their teeth on Myst might still struggle solving 1-3 puzzles each chapter – They released Meridian 157 in 3 parts (all worth it), so good signal theyll finish this new series as well – Buy it if you enjoy Myst, The Room, House of Da Vinci, Glitch Games releases, etc etc – our kudos to the devs, great work.
Great game but we need the next episode.
Great game for those searching for a cozy game with suspense and mystery.
Sad we found this before chapter 2 is ready because we can NOT get enough! Gorgeous, challenging, so fun! The puzzles are unique and actually a little tough, but solvable: high trust that we will find the answer without a hint, but the hints when we did use them didnt give it away. Love love love.
The game is interesting, has fun puzzles which can be as challenging as you want them to be or as simple as you need them to be. There are plenty of free useful hints to help you.
We were excited for chapter 2. Ive been waiting for days and it has not been released yet. Can you release this 2025.
Having a great time playing this game, there are plenty of hints if we get stuck in the puzzles, so dont get discouraged we love that we can make different tools from items we pick up along the way.
Please release more. Meridian 157 was a home run , dont stop giving us the best escape games ever made. Wheres chapter 2-10.
If we play any games on our phone, they are typically puzzle/logic/role-play, where we have to actually utilize our brain. Otherwise, we feel like Im just wasting our life even if only for an hour or a week or so. We really dont like hidden object games, thats not difficult enough for us. Im more drawn to games like crime bot2, detective stories, etc. This game was surprisingly fascinating and enjoyable. We think we finished the whole chapter one and maybe less than 2 hours. Im going to replay on a higher difficulty level and see how it goes.
This has to be the best IOS game we played since we had an iPhone, hope to see more games like this.
Hats off to the developers!! It looks as if this is a newer game and we must sayits well thought and simply amazing!! You did your homework and delivered a TRUE GAMING EXPERIENCE!! Our iPad is literally on 5% because we were emerged into the storyline. Youre using what looks like real graphics and it makes that more interesting!! We love the storyline, the hints ie.. Cluesespecially the clues.. You actually give a clue step by stepjust enough where a player can figure out the rest on their own. Anywaymajor kudos.
Id put these games right up there with the Rusty Lake collection. Definitely worth checking out.
Love this game and the Meridian 157 series. Easy to pick up, great storyline, smooth gameplay. Cant wait for chapter 2.
Really fun game, wish there were more.
Chapter one is very good, we hope chapter two comes out soon and then three, four and many more.
What a fantastic opening to a really fun and challenging game. We cant wait until Chapter 2 comes out. Most of the puzzles arent difficult and on normal mode, you can just skip the hard ones or get hints. We love the story and how the first chapter ended. It was chilling and reminded us of Meridian 157. We also love the scenery and animation. It made us feel like we were actually hiking in a national park. Love this company and hope that Chapter 2 is just as fun.
We cant wait for the next game.
Son muy buenos lo unico malo que no te dice que hacer en los retos.
Im waiting for the next episode.
Our favorite type of game; just wish it was longer.
Enjoying this game a great deal. Interesting and challenging puzzles, beautiful graphics, smooth animations. We have the Meridian 157 series and this game is even better.
Loved everything about this game, the graphics are beautiful and the storyline is captivating the puzzles are great we cant wait too continue in chapter two.
Puzzles arent too hard and we like that you have to move to different locations to solve them. PLEASE RELEASE CHAPTER 2.
We had a lot of fun with this; the devs did a great job with the sound, music, style, and puzzles. Hoping to see more from these folks. Thanks for the fun game. A few hours just disappeared, we were so immersed.
We absolutely love your games, theyre the best and so well done. We cant wait for the next chapter.
We searched for Myst games and found this one. We get motion sickness easily so we love the point and click style. Fun puzzles and interesting storyline.
NovaSoft does the job every time. Quality plot, attention to detail, just enough spooky. Chapter one had us feeling like Im Hopper from Stranger things. Played this when it first came out but we came back to check for the second chapter. Novasoft makes amazing games.
We cant even with you guys, we didnt even start exploring until after we just sat and listened to the music for 5 solid minutes just beautiful all around. We cannot wait for chapter 2.
How many years for the next chapter ??? Our god.
Very intuitive, no glitches, new and interesting puzzles, also free?!? What more could you ask for.
Super short but a great intro. Great design! The puzzles could use a bit less obscurity in terms of what to do, at least at the start. We think people should be invested in the story more before the puzzles get to be that obscure because, the first time around, it really disrupted the flow of the story. Part of that is figuring out the style of puzzles this developer produces but there could have been more appeal to intuition on some puzzles. The cut scenes were excellent with feelings of nostalgia, eeriness and coziness. We look forward to the continuation.
We finished this game in a few hours. It was fun but we wouldve preferred something longer. One question: Where do we find chapter two.
We liked the graphics and the slower pace of this game. The puzzles werent too hard which we appreciate. Hope chapter two comes out soon.
We enjoyed the Meridian trilogy and so played through this one, even though its chapter 1 of an unfinished series. It is an above average point and click adventure, with several nitpicking elements that pull it down from five stars. 1. As other reviews have said, the puzzles make no sense. Theres no reason for the puzzles and locks to be there. And even less for your character to not already know all the combinations. 2. This companys games lack the humor that excuses similar logic gaps in Glitch games, from whom theyve obviously borrowed a lot of other mechanics. 3. Too many of the puzzles require wild leaps that no sane person in the situation would attempt. If the game was more self-aware, this wouldnt be an issue. But in trying to provide lots of puzzles while also trying to create any feeling of reality, they step on their own feet. Are we supposed to be concerned about being late to work or are we supposed to search what is allegedly our own home for our clothes? 4. This dichotomy of realism vs puzzle building also makes it very frustrating when a useful tool disappears after its intended use. 5. One final little style thing that bugged us – most of the game approaches photorealistic, except for your own hands or photos of your ranger partner. Its slightly jarring to be walking down a beautifully rendered wooded path and suddenly your plastic looking gumby hand rises into frame holding a very realistic looking compass.
We liked the meridian series, mostly. Familiar feel. But also some of the quirks. Some of the puzzles we can't understand the solutions. Another problem throughout lots of tiny, complex symbols you need to distinguish. But the graphics are poor, so it is difficult to get right. This is on 11 inch ipad. Need to clean up the images. Otherwise enjoyable. Also a bit short.
How is there 4 triangles? Its 7.
We would like to explore the environments more. Need more pathways and images around, behind, up, down etc. For instance, the tool shed has a lot of interesting things to at least look at. Or the gift shop. Too many still images and single perspectives. Id like to wander around more, even aimlessly. Clever puzzles but often too intricate and mostly not really involved in the story. Compass floating in a water pipe? And then we dont actually use the compass? Maybe in the next chapter.
The music and cut scenes were beautiful which is what earned it 3 stars. Some of the puzzles however were poor. In two instances we solved a puzzle and it didnt register as being solved. We had to use the hint which essentially did nothing but did get us past the puzzle.
The scenery is nice. The puzzle aspect of the game is really bad. The clues and solutions are so obscure and non-sensical, theres no logic behind them. Maybe theres an item in an oven that would have no reason to be there. Its basically one of the try everything until you get lucky games, not one where you need to be clever.
This is one of the best escape/puzzle games Ive played in a very long time. The graphics are amazing. The puzzles are very challenging but make sense and are all solvable using the clues provided. Kudos to the game designers. This game is outstanding. (And we play A LOT of these types of games.).
This is the best game that we have ever played.
When is chapter 2 sequel coming out?we really enjoyed this game so disappointed there is no 2.
We really enjoyed playing the Meridian 157 games and was excited to see the developers made a new game. This is a great opening game to a new mystery and Im looking forward to finding out what is going on in Aurora Hills.
We loved the entire Meridian series and was very pleasantly surprised by how this game was just as good if not better due to the graphics and story line. The only downside is that theres only a chapter 1 and the suspense is killing us! We cant wait for the rest of the series of Aurora Hills and we hope there are a lot of them! Thank you for creating such an enjoyable game.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.0.5
- Size: 494.93 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE, IT, JA, PT, RU, ZH, ES
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: NovaSoft Interactive Limited
Last updated: 18th November 2024 | Genre: Puzzle, Adventure | Developer: NovaSoft Interactive Limited