Traveler’s Refrain Review

Traveler’s Refrain is an excellent action-adventure game that reminds me of Ocarina of Time. It takes around 16 hours to complete, and it has a few missable achievements. However, the game will tell you “the points of no return.”

Approximate amount of time to 100%: Around 16 hours
Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
Is there a good guide available: I wrote this guide: https://www.missitheachievementhuntress.com/travelers-refrain-100-achievement-guide/
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: Yes, win 4x the Nix Ball mini-game, collect and use an item from the other prisoner, get all the map unlocks
Grinding Achievements: No, gathering 5K Red Essence might be grindy if you don’t work toward it through the game, but I unlocked it a few chapters before the ending.
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty setting
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No

In this stunning game, you play as Traveler, a traveler wandering through a mysterious forest where there should be a machine that grants wishes. You desperately want to be reunited with your lover and will do anything to find this machine and make this wish. However, everything about this forest is weird. Time moves differently; it triggers many flashbacks and memories, and some things are off. During your travels, you’ll meet other people and a few friendly robots and help with their struggles.

Traveler’s Refrain reminded me so much of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The way you play your instrument to trigger effects or, for example, heal yourself, but also the puzzles you’ll find inside and outside of dungeons. Also, the combat is real-time, like in the Zelda games. (Sadly, you will not unlock a ridable mount, but maybe that would be too many Zelda things in one game? :P). You will unlock new abilities throughout the game and be able to unlock stuff and secrets you encountered earlier but couldn’t solve yet.

I had a blast with this game; the combat and the puzzles are so good. It was so lovely to help the people in this world and explore this forest, solving the puzzles that got in your way. The story is told in an intriguing way. You don’t get the full story up front, but it is told over time through story moments, flashbacks, and interactions with others. I was hooked from the start, and this lasted till the end. I never felt bored or without direction or leads, which is an outstanding achievement. The final boss felt very challenging and almost broke me. This is primarily due to me. I’m a very impatient gamer, and I love to attack more than I love to defend, which isn’t the best combo for long-lasting boss fights like this one.

I did encounter a bug where the game zooms out in a building for some weird reasons, but the developers are very responsive and actively working on figuring out why this is happening. This bug doesn’t trigger for everybody, which makes it harder to figure out what causes it. The team is tiny, but I’m sure they will figure out what triggers this bug. The bug isn’t game-breaking; it is just a bit silly to see the game zoom out, and when you leave the building, it zooms in again. About Red Essence Games, I find it awesome that they sell Guitar Picks on their website with their logo and the logo of this game. An excellent merchandise item for a title like this!

Traveler’s Refrain has some missable achievements. I explain them more in the guide linked above, but the most crucial part is to talk to the other prisoner when you escape from your jail cell and use the item he gives you later in the story. Another thing is to keep playing all the Nix Ball (aka curling) mini-games until you win them. Other achievements can be missed, but the game does an excellent job warning you that you’re reaching a point of no return. Very late in the story, you’ll unlock the ability to warp around, making back-traveling to pick up missed items much easier. You also unlock the ability to see where you’re missing collectibles on the map, to make it even easier to know which areas you need to return to.

I had a fantastic time playing Traveler’s Refrain, and I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

This review for Traveler’s Refrain was written on 3 May 2025, based on the current Steam version of the game which has 34 achievements at the time of writing this review. This information can be outdated, for example, when the developer adds or removes achievements or releases (new) DLC.