After much anticipation, Ambrosia Software Friday announced the release of Cythera. As is described in the press release, "Your arrival in Cythera begins an immersive adventure that is sure to cause incidents of philosophical self-questioning and adrenaline-pumping suspense. Intriguing puzzles offer clues about the island's mythical history, and ultimately the origins of the people of Cythera."

Cythera is the brainchild of Glenn Andreas, whose "imagination and love for classical mythology breathe life into the fictional world." The game takes advantage of the underlying Delver engine, which adds realism and ingenuity to what could be "...the most advanced RPG in the Mac market," Ambrosia claims. One strength of the engine that they point out involves interaction of inanimate objects in the game; as an example, water and flour yield dough, which, when baked, makes bread.

But perhaps best for Mac users is the fact that Cythera proudly features an advanced GUI that mirrors the MacOS interface. "Drag an item into your inventory window to take it. To perform an action, you can use contextual menus. Of course, optional keyboard shortcuts make the game move a little faster for those in a hurry to rescue the land. Multiple windows abound, and when a window becomes irrelevant, it closes automatically to prevent onscreen clutter."

Cythera requires any Macintosh computer with MacOS 7.6.1 or later, a 13" color monitor, and 12 MB of free RAM. A 68040 or PowerPC is recommended, as is a larger monitor. Certain features in the game require a one-time registration fee of $25.

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February 09, 2010