Koirais an enchanting adventure that takes players on an emotional journey between the protagonist and their dog. Studio Tolima’s hand-drawn visuals truly pull you in, while the mixture of reds, blacks and whites often makes for a dramatic picture. You can see the emotion of each character prominently through the animations, making you feel for the protagonist without a spoken word. Additionally, the musical elements with notes being uttered instead of words is a nice touch, bringing you back to the days ofIco.
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We’re here for a good time, not a long time!
From beginning to end,Koiragrabs you with its visuals and doesn’t let go. The wintry setting looks spot-on with dramatic snowstorms, dark forests and the ability to create your own snowmen. It looks impressive as you roll a snowball with your protagonist. Almost every character has a black outline, making you focus on the eyes even more than usual. You can see when the pet dog is upset by your actions or is so happy to receive head rubs. When you’re in a dangerous situation, the protagonist’s eyes have a shaky look as they’re in fear of what will happen to them and their canine friend. The hand-drawn art is superb with spectacular backgrounds and unique effects that makeKoirastand out. The director, Ben Laga, was right when they said toGameRantthat the game looks like a storybook.
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The visuals truly look outstanding during dream sequences, but these won’t be spoiled during the review, so you can enjoy them yourself. This debut game from Studio Tolima is a looker. It especially shines when the game utilizes the narrative device of pathetic fallacy to elicit an emotional reaction from players with rain and snow symbolizing sadness and loneliness.
Repetitive Game Design
What holdsKoiraback is its game design. If it wasn’t for the visuals, it would be difficult to stay invested. You’ll be running around in open spaces, throwing objects at objects or enemies to get essential items, finding musical notes to activate statues to proceed, utilizing basic stealth and trying to spot each object the dog references in the clouds above. Every once in a while, the formula does change slightly, but this happens few and far between gameplay segments. As the game reaches its waning moments, it feels long in the tooth once you arrive at the protagonist’s desired final location.
Most of the puzzles are easy to figure out, but they can be fun at points. One has you trying to match the note symbols of each bird by interacting with them. Once you’ve gathered all the birds together, the statue activates. The stealth can also be rather thrilling at first. You’ll need to throw objects at items around the world to distract the hunters that are pursuing you and the dog. It’s fun to pickpocket a key from a hunter at one point as well. Some of thestealthsegments can be annoying, though. For example, the game doesn’t explain to wait until the coast is clear until many tries. You have to lurk in a bush for an uncomfortable amount of time as the enemies shift from one spot to the next.
At one point, while stuck in a hunter’s camp, there wasn’t a clear way to escape. After ten minutes, I found out you can move through a piece of wood that acts as a tunnel. There are a few moments like that where the game doesn’t describe well what to do next.
Enchanting Music
While there isn’t a theme that’ll be stuck in your head for the next week, the music is enchanting and beautifully sets the scenes. The way the characters interact with each other is through subtle musical notes. Similar to games likeIco, you can call upon your friends by speaking in an unknown tongue, but this time, it’s a note. What seems to be an accordion is played to create an uplifting sound, while other instruments elicit a more annoyed or scary response as the game proceeds. The piano pieces that play during the game also help create emotional moments throughoutKoira, which can’t be performed by a voice performance. The music, sound effects and animations do the heavy lifting.
A Riveting Story
Even though there is no speech in-game, there’s a wonderful story to follow. You’re playing as a protagonist lost within the forest landscape who finds a dog along the way. They both get attached to each other and their main goal is to reach a house on the other side of the lake. They encounter hunters and boar along the way that likely tells a message of not treating animals harshly and have them live in their own environment. Throughout the game your protagonist gathers strange powers that won’t be spoiled here. What this review will say, however, is that this creates a conflict between the dog and its owner that receives a fantastic conclusion at the end.
Once again, we’ll attempt to avoid spoilers, but whenever the game wants to be dramatic, it nails it. This is due to the unique gameplay scenarios the player is put in, the music and the brilliant visuals thatKoirapresents. Like thatgamecompany’sJourney, this game knows how to pick its moments as it makes you happy, sad and angry all within its three-to-four-hour runtime.
Closing Comments:
WhileKoira’sgameplay loop can be repetitive by the end, it’s wonderful at telling a narrative. It’s beautiful, stirring and overall a fantastic debut from the 2022-formed Studio Tolima. Hopefully they’ll continue to focus on the connection between music and gameplay in their next title because it’s a concept that has great potential to be expanded on.
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
Koira is a wholesome tale of friendship where you and your new puppy traverse a musical forest, solve ancient puzzles, befriend woodland creatures, and try to find your way home. Avoid danger along the way, as hunters lurk in the shadows…Bond with your new friend: feed it, take care of it, and play with it!Traverse shaded groves, snowy hills, dark caves, and more.Outsmart the relentless hunters using stealth and bravery.Support each other to restore an ancient forest and activate its mysterious monuments.Meet and help the animals of the forest.
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