This is an interesting little thing. It's a game "inspired by New Caledonia" which is neat on paper and I appreciate wanting to do something about where you're from but it kinda fell flat to me. What about New Caledonia are they trying to get across? The game, while inspired by it, actually says they don't reference any part of the people or the culture directly. Instead we get a story about a magic girl who can possess things. That's fine in its own way but when I hear your game is inspired by your culture I get excited to learn more about it. Are there hints of it in the game? Do New Caledonian people like to sing in groups? Are the offerings you make to speak with important people part of New Caledonian culture or is that just the game lore? The closest I got is that the girl speaks in Drehu which is neat but I kinda have to just take the game's word for it rather than them diving deep into it. I just wish they did more with it instead of them hoping I look more into it on my own time after playing this, which is how it comes across.
You might be reading this and thinking I'm being too hard on it for not delving deeper into its inspiration. Maybe it "doesn't matter". That's fine. It felt like it was going to be important to me but let's set that aside. What we're left with is a story about a girl with magic who has to save the land from bigger magic guy. It's a story told countless times and, without the deeper context on how it relates to New Caledonia, is something kinda dull and done better.
So what about the game? This is where I compare it to a few other games that are all better than this one. Mind you, this game is fun enough. I enjoyed playing this mash up of Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. That's basically what it is. You run around an open world and possess things. The possession mechanic is neat and works well enough. I wish they had been more creative with it though. You mostly just possess things to move them. You can make some animals poop. That's kinda it though. You can't possess people or possess things to move in ways that are unique or add a layer of depth to the gameplay. It's also the only way you can really attack in the game though you aren't in combat very often.
Ultimately it kinda felt like Psychonauts to me. Not with a good story and interesting characters but in the feel while playing it. It was neat to play around with the possession even though its a bit limited. I really enjoyed exploring the island. There's a ton of extra little things to do like time trial races around the island both as yourself and as the animals you can possess, diving challenges, cosmetics to both find and win in claw games. I think the best gameplay part of all were the shrines. Shrines have like enclosed challenges that you have to get past to extend how long you can possess things for. They were a really fun aspect of the game, almost like standalone levels vs the games more open nature.
So yeah, this game is alright. I wish they would have pushed the cultural stuff way more heavily. The actual story is fine but kinda predictable. It plays like less interesting but more graphically polished PS2 game right down to the weirdly long load times. Ultimately fine enough for a few hours if you have PS extra or get it for VERY cheap but not really a thing I would recommend to anyone. It's just kinda there and there's a world of better games to play.
You might be reading this and thinking I'm being too hard on it for not delving deeper into its inspiration. Maybe it "doesn't matter". That's fine. It felt like it was going to be important to me but let's set that aside. What we're left with is a story about a girl with magic who has to save the land from bigger magic guy. It's a story told countless times and, without the deeper context on how it relates to New Caledonia, is something kinda dull and done better.
So what about the game? This is where I compare it to a few other games that are all better than this one. Mind you, this game is fun enough. I enjoyed playing this mash up of Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. That's basically what it is. You run around an open world and possess things. The possession mechanic is neat and works well enough. I wish they had been more creative with it though. You mostly just possess things to move them. You can make some animals poop. That's kinda it though. You can't possess people or possess things to move in ways that are unique or add a layer of depth to the gameplay. It's also the only way you can really attack in the game though you aren't in combat very often.
Ultimately it kinda felt like Psychonauts to me. Not with a good story and interesting characters but in the feel while playing it. It was neat to play around with the possession even though its a bit limited. I really enjoyed exploring the island. There's a ton of extra little things to do like time trial races around the island both as yourself and as the animals you can possess, diving challenges, cosmetics to both find and win in claw games. I think the best gameplay part of all were the shrines. Shrines have like enclosed challenges that you have to get past to extend how long you can possess things for. They were a really fun aspect of the game, almost like standalone levels vs the games more open nature.
So yeah, this game is alright. I wish they would have pushed the cultural stuff way more heavily. The actual story is fine but kinda predictable. It plays like less interesting but more graphically polished PS2 game right down to the weirdly long load times. Ultimately fine enough for a few hours if you have PS extra or get it for VERY cheap but not really a thing I would recommend to anyone. It's just kinda there and there's a world of better games to play.