Venari is a puzzler that takes you to a mysterious island full of, well, mystery

Venari takes you to a mysterious deserted island in pursuit of a fabled artefact
Explore a detailed and atmospheric 3D world
Take cues, and more importantly clues, from your environment to advance

It's a big day for puzzlers on PG.com, if it isn't us covering Netflix's new take on Minesweeper, then it's this new entry in the vanishingly small but still noted genre of Myst-likes. Venari takes you to a remote island where your objective is to uncover the fabled Venari Artefact, but to do so you'll need to solve the brain-busting puzzles in your path.
Compared to other Myst-likes we've seen on mobile, Venari does boast some surprisingly impressive graphics. While the kind of people who play Unreal Engine demos for fun might baulk at some of the flatter textures, the shadows and sandy beaches do well to create an immersive and atmospheric environment.
That goes for the puzzles as well, as all of them are animated within the game's environment and require you to take information from clues planted around the landscape. So if you're looking for a game that doesn't hold your hand or leave you stuck in a fixed camera angle, Venari might be the game for you.

Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

Venari is available now on the iOS App Store!

A MYST-erious adventure
While puzzle-game purists are unlikely to care too much about graphics, we do like the fact that Venari gives you a bit more to look at. And nice touches like exploring the grim and dank caves you see in the trailer, with torch in hand (despite the lack of threats) could do a lot to put you in the mood of an intrepid explorer.

And if you want to see what other puzzlers have caught our eyes, then why not dig into our list of the best mobile games of 2024 (so far) to find out more? Or check into the latest entry of our regular feature with the top five new mobile games you need to try this week!