Last updated on November 26th, 2025 at 05:05 pm
XON Episode One – Puzzle Game Review
XON Episode One is a Puzzle game from Noam Kahalani, first launched in 30th June 2015.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 136+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes XON Episode One Stand Out
XON is a puzzle adventure game inspired by games like Myst and Riven.
Explore a unique world and reveal its mysteries…
This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, XON Episode One is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 9th July 2015
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Bug fixes
Download & Availability
XON Episode One is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get XON Episode One 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:
In this first installment, you start the game facing an elevated platform that takes you to the exit. To activate this platform, you must perform two simple things: First, you must align six spheres to the reflectors to activate power to the huge pyramid. Second, you must turn on six switches to activate power to the elevators to reach the elevated platforms. Once the sixth switch has been turned on, you should find the master (red) switch to divert power to the elevators that take you to the elevated platforms. Along the way, you will find clues sketched along several pillars. Your great adventure awaits you! This epic game offers: – Outstanding graphics. – No ads. – No in-app purchases. – Absolutely FREE of charge. The premium games that follow offer much more depth, puzzles, secret areas and so much more. This game is a great start of the series! Please ignore the one star reviews and see for yourself. Recommended: Yes of course! Puzzle perfection.
So it took us a couple of late night hours to get through the first episode, but we thought it was great! Gotta get some sleep, then TOMORROW we can download the next episodes. Thanks.
This is a great way to start an amazing four part series. All 4 chapters of XON are spectacular in their own way, and these guys are absolute masters at creating beautiful mega-puzzles that are laid out across vast landscapes. Its such a rush to solve these incredible puzzles.
We started out with the initial free game, and then saw several reviewers note that these paid versions are longer, so we decided to give it a try, as we really enjoyed the freebie immensely. Now we are already on Chapter 3 and enjoying every moment of this journey so far! We consider ourselves to be a graphics snob, so we appreciate the beautiful graphics and attention to detail in these games very much. We also love that we are forced to explore every since nook and cranny of this strange world, looking for artifacts needed for game play. We also appreciate the complexity level of the puzzles. Its not TOO hard, but hard enough that we did have to seek out some clues on a few occasions, and each game (so far) has given us more than a day of game play. We will be recommending this game to everyone for sure, and we dont recommend many games! This rises to the level of The Taos Principal, The Room series, and House of DaVinci. Bravo! Well done, and please make more.
We love the 3D design of this game. Its easy to control and move around. The puzzles are not that hard but make you think.
We love it it looks so cool everyone should play this app only thing is it should be longer.
Episode one was a little short but exactly the enjoyable type of game we've spent a bit of time looking for. We love being able to maneuver through a landscape fairly freely in pursuit of the goal, which is challenging but not so difficult, and lots of fun. We encourage people to give this game a try. Episode one is free. The next episodes do cost you, but not very much, and we've been told they're somewhat more of a challenge. Thanks developer! This game had no bugs and never crashed.
Great puzzle game with the silent eerie quality similar to Myst. Only complaint is the controls. On iPad there were times when curser went to spinning non stop. Hard to stop and get control again. Tunnels are a bit dark too, hard to navigate. Otherwise, a pleasure.
We love games like this, where the graphics are 3D and we can walk around in a nice environment. Would recommend.
It looked and thought it was boring, but its really fun!! Masterpiece.
This game hit the spot for us as we like point-and-clicks with 360* real-time navigation. They just feel more immersive to us, though there are plenty of other high-quality ones that are certainly worth playing (and we do). It was short and not too difficult, but worked great as an intro to pull you into the rest of the series. We understand from some of the other reviews that the second (and we assume subsequent) ones are longer and more complex, so Ill likely invest a couple bucks per to continue this enjoyable adventure. P.S. Would really like to see more games of this genre, as they seem to be conspicuously scarce on the App Store. Just a thought.
Totally Myst. Controller will be a bit getting used to since this is touch screen base. Once you get the hang of it, its addictive. Im already on episode 3.
Nice visuals and ambiance. Works great in iPhone.
Beautiful Myst-type game. The first episode is short. However it is free and lets you try the game before you buy episode two. Next episodes are longer and a little more challenging.
…and we bet if we want the rest of the story, this needs good reviews to get there! We would gladly pay to play more of this! We're a huge Myst fan since it was released (that dates us) and couldn't get enough of those games. Beautifully done.
This is a small taste of the Xon series which is excellent. Great graphics, relaxing gameplay and clever creative puzzles. Download this then check out the other episodes which are much longer and meatier.
The similarities to Myst are obvious, so if you enjoyed Myst, this is your kind of game. The graphics aren't quite as detailed, but pretty, and gameplay is smooth. Same goes for sound. There are some missing audio cues, and no brooding soundtrack, but the ambient noises are well produced and fit nicely into the scenery. The one big puzzle in this game is not terribly difficult, and does rely a little too much on finding your way to the things you need to manipulate. It's also not always obvious when you've done the right thing. This is where the level of mastery that Cyan brings to the Myst series is most evident – there's almost always some feedback to tell you "you're not supposed to do that yet because there's something you need to do first", or "job well done, something just happened over yonder that you should go investigate now." In Xon, sometimes you do something and then have to go look around to see if it had any effect anywhere. This is the difference between good game design and great game design. It's a tight rope to walk, giving the player enough feedback to know they're on the right track without dumbing it down, or erring the other way and leaving the player in the dark to make it "challenging." Then there's the part where you have to turn the thing to open the thing to turn on the thing – there's no glowy beam that time, which is a little inconsistent. Minor detail, but the kind of effort that it would take to bring this to the next level. Speaking of the next level – they really should be in-app purchases, not separate apps. We almost missed that anything else had come out, and we don't really love the idea of covering our home screen with icons for the same game. So overall, 4-1/2 stars, but we'll round up because this is a really promising franchise if the author(s) can up the ante on the next one. Haven't tried it yet, so here's hoping.
Great start to the series!!! Love it.
Short? Yes. But c'mon people, you're getting a very enjoyable game with great graphics and gameplay for free! We can't imagine the hours put in by the developer to create this, and then people have the gall to complain that a free game like this is short? Seriously? Props to the developer, nicely done.
This is a very short game, but it's also very enticing. The controls are more like a console game pad, with thumb sticks action. But it's the best of this type we've ever used. Usually 3D games like this on iOS are really hard to control but this one was so fluid and easy. Like others have said, if you like myst, the. You'll like this. We're off to get the other episodes now.
This was a fun experience! We enjoyed the puzzle and the controls were nice. The graphics were THE BEST! But its sad that the others cost money. Cause we want to get part 2 and part 3, but we can't cause it costs money. :-( But other than that GREAT GAME.
It runs great on our iPad mini 1. The visuals were nice the, the puzzle was brilliantly designed, and the controls are customizable to your liking. The only critique we have is that it would be cool to have some kind of a story here. This was a great little game that we could put down and pick up right were we left off. We can't wait to get the other two games.
Captures the feel of Myst better than most iOS adventure games. Beautiful graphics, intuitive controls. Would have liked the tiniest hint of story, but still hooked enough to play future episodes.
Like everyone is pretty much mentioning the game itself is good and promising, but they could have added more puzzles before the "to be continued " like maybe 5 all together rather than just one, but the game was a fun and alright game we guess just way to short. And not that much guidance, but we guess we understand why not there's only one puzzle.
We love games like this and they are few and far between. Stunning graphics, short but interesting puzzle adventure.
Great game! VERY reminiscent of Myst. Found one bug. In the lower area where you start the game, we went through the tunnel up to the ledge, the kept going and went on the rocks. The game ignored the gap in the rocks and let us into the upper area where we became trapped. Had to reset the game.
Very well done! We enjoyed the serene quiet of the game. The design of puzzle was great in that it had us moving about the beautiful world, as opposed to just standing statically in a room. It felt like being in Palanque, the amazing Mayan temple complex in Mexico! MORE PLEASE.
A very promising game similar to MYST. We loved it! It is short but still good. Ambiance could use some work. Didn't like crow noise, or the up down repeating noise of about four tones In the background. Needs some subtle symphonic music or the like when coming into an area of much significance, reverting to standard day sounds when away. Also needs a intro plot line or the next episodes need to lead up to solving a mystery or similar. Loved the rest of the sounds. Very nice game. If you liked MYST you'll like this.
We really enjoyed it, can't wait for the next one. There was a minor glitch on the first elevator, we accidentally backed up while it was moving and we got stuck in mid air. Thought we were stuck for good, but backing up again got us out of it.
Super fun but super short game. Very reminiscent of Myst.
We loved this game. The scenery was beautiful and the puzzle was somewhat challenging while not being ridiculously recondite. Our only nearly negative comment isn't really negative. It's just to recognize that, with only one puzzle to solve, the game was very short. The reason this isn't really a complaint is that it was free. We think it is being given away as a sample of what the series has to offer: what the developers are capable of, like a hint at good things to come. We think we'll buy the second episode (it's listed now for only $1.99). If that proves to be equally brief (the first took us about 30-minutes to solve), then we might have to reconsider our praises. But we've seen enough here to make it seem worthwhile to invest further.
Played the game, loved it! We could be a little bit more difficult, and longer, but we love the style and it looks great! Will have to check out more of these games.
Would be much better if they came up with better movement controls, other than that if you need a myst type fix. Its a good free start into the series.
We should have selected the arrows for maneuvering. Developed motion sickness exploring the first five minutes.
Love the game play. The puzzle has a good base but it needs more to completely satisfy. That being said we bought the second game.
Beautiful, great graphics, clever, enough of a puzzle to whet your appetite for the two increasingly good sequels. We agree with the favorable comparisons to Myst. Interesting question on which is better – just good-looking puzzles with no story, or some stupid plot involving rescuing a princess thrown in as an afterthought? We'll take the former.
Good Game but we did it in 30 minutes we hope in the future there are more challenging levels as we are a big fan of myst and riven.
The game was really good, to control are amazing, the graphics too. But the difficulty of a game was lame. We literally finished the game in 10 minutes. And we didn't felt challenged at any point. You could improve the difficulty of the puzzles. Other than that looks like a really promising game.
Nice game like myst or schism but ends to quickly!! Need more jigsaw puzzles.
Im sorry but we couldnt give this game a good rating. We couldnt play it because of the way we have to move through the game. It makes us nauseous. We had to rate it a 3 because we couldnt send a review without a rating. Looks like a cool game though.
Even though this game takes about 15 minutes to complete, we managed to get fatally stuck TWICE due to the elevator, and had to restart from scratch both times. Caution: Once the elevator leaves without you, theres no way to recall it, so make sure youre deliberate about stepping onto and off of it. (Developer, please fix!) The puzzle is simple, adequate for a free game. Sounds are pretty good. Of course the environment looks great thanks to the Unreal engine.
We're actually motion sick from trying to maneuver within this game. There really is no slow turning even though we have it set to slowest. It is intriguing. And yes, it's vaguely like Myst without the cool vibraphone music. We are stuck though.
Installed on iPad 10 it was DOA on first download. Now working, we can see where this is Myst/Riven inspired. However, a little instruction on how touchscreen movements are controlled would be nice. It took us a while to find how to move and pan. Not having advanced much into the game, Im not sure with what other actions we might encounter difficulties. With that rocky start, Ill reserve further review until played. It would seem one of the puzzles in this game is getting to move and view the environment in a predictable and dependable manner. It might certainly make the game more enjoyable. We have to down grade the rating for the high level of frustration in trying to move and look about. Lastly, the graphics dont run with Apple airplay, but then again, thats probably nit-picking.
Start to finish the single puzzle will take someone about 15-30 minutes to solve. Most of that time is figuring out controls. Once the puzzle is completed, you get a "to be continued" window, meaning if you want to keep going, you need to pay $1.99 for each subsequent episode (as separate apps). We wouldn't mind paying if we knew the quality would get better. There is no real mystery or story as to who you are, why you're there, what the world it, etc. There is no interaction except for the obvious puzzle pieces. The game has potential, but is not compelling enough for us to want to continue.
Annoyed that you can get stuck and have to start over. Seems like theres a bug which lets you jump a ledge and then cannot get out, then need to start over. Ridiculous.
Ok so yes. It's free. BUT it's like 1/1000 or less the size and depth of MYST, and 1/1,000,000 the size of Riven. So this makes us very afraid to PAY for episode 2. Also, tho stunning visually, it's plain Jane.
There is a LOT more that needs to be put into this game. We appreciate the atmosphere and graphics, but the "game" is just wandering around and touching things. We figured this was like a test game to get you interested in buying the next games, but there's no way based on this.
There are some truly great games like this out there, so we have to consider that when rating this just 2 stars. This is essentially just one puzzle. The puzzle is not as challenging as the controls, it's essentially like you are a rat in a maze and performing one rote action after another. Very limited interaction with the environment. There is a rope hanging from a wall that is really out of place in this stark environment – you can't climb it or anything. We mention it because there are so few items in the environment that it is odd to have this random rope. Maybe it is part of the next installment? Annoying part: It is possible to get into the pen by falling off a ledge, but once in you cannot get out unless you have previously opened the door from the outside, so you must start a new game in order to continue. The game took us 10 minutes after we restarted. This would be a fine part of a larger game, but it does need more interest and more interactive potential.we thank all game designers in this type of game. We appreciate the effort.
Why on Earth (or Xon, for that matter) would we pay for any more episodes? There was literally ONE puzzle to solve. Get into the thing. Thats it. Im exceedingly sad, because the soundtrack was good, graphics fine… But where is the content? Take all the money you spent on graphics, and put it into making a couple more puzzles. Id rather play compelling content with blocks than be bored with nice visuals. Sorry, but episode 1 doesnt compel us AT ALL to pay 1.99 per puzzle. Meh.
We tried this game for only a few minutes before we decided it was too frustrating to continue. The navigation controls are not at all intuitive. The need to tap arrows on the side of the screen to move forward, rather than just tapping on the direction you which to go makes it more annoying than it is worth, so we jst deleted it and moved on.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.12
- Size: 89.83 MB
- iOS: 6.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: [Noam Kahalani]()
Last updated: 9th July 2015 | Genre: Puzzle | Developer: Noam Kahalani