A bit clunky puzzle platformer. There are as many good things as bad things to say about this game.
Let's start with the bad sides:
- Boring gameplay - Puzzles were simple. Platforming was only okay. The story was nothing special. An original approach with the real world people's folklore, but it's only that. The game is short, took me about 3 hours, and that's a good thing because I don't think the game could provide anything groundbreaking.
- Controls - I read comments that on keyboard it is difficult to play. I played it on Steam Deck and still found it a bit uncomfortable. The movement of the protagonists feels odd. Sometimes it was difficult to reach platforms even if visually the character should catch them.
- Glitches - I had to restart from the checkpoint several times because one of my characters would get stuck in weird places. Usually it was the fox. In the water section, he could not find a way out of the water, so my camera was locked, and I couldn't progress. It was somewhat funny looking, but the more things like that happened, the more annoying it got.
- Ending - The story was... fine. But I don't understand what happened at the end. To avoid spoilers, I won't tell anything more. It just feels like they wanted the last section to be more impactful than it really had to be from the story perspective.
The good sides:
- Art style - Gorgeous. The characters, their animations, the background, the weather, even the ugly-looking antagonists and spirits are looking cool.
- Inspiration - The game was created with the Alaska Natives, Iñupiat, in mind. Their folklore, language, and setting is interwoven into the main story. It's always cool when a modern medium such as video games focus on people many of us did not even know exist. It's not just a gameplay - you can learn something interesting from it.
- Forgiving gameplay - Checkpoints are set densely. Whenever you fail, the game puts you somewhere close so you don't waste too much time dying over and over the same spot. Which in itself happened to me quite rarely. The only frustrating part was with these stupid walking trees. Other than that, the game is pretty chill.
- Length - Sadly it was not a very interesting game, but it didn't drag forever. It took me about 3 hours to finish. So unfortunately it is a good thing coming out of a bad thing.
So I'm in the middle with my rating. I'd give it 2.5 but because of the focus on spreading the knowledge about the Iñupiat folklore I can give it an additional 0.5 stars.
I can't recommend it for the gameplay. It's a boring experience. But it has some interesting facts to learn, especially that these weren't just facts thrown at you as a text, but they are the part of the gameplay and story. 3/5 is the final score.
Let's start with the bad sides:
- Boring gameplay - Puzzles were simple. Platforming was only okay. The story was nothing special. An original approach with the real world people's folklore, but it's only that. The game is short, took me about 3 hours, and that's a good thing because I don't think the game could provide anything groundbreaking.
- Controls - I read comments that on keyboard it is difficult to play. I played it on Steam Deck and still found it a bit uncomfortable. The movement of the protagonists feels odd. Sometimes it was difficult to reach platforms even if visually the character should catch them.
- Glitches - I had to restart from the checkpoint several times because one of my characters would get stuck in weird places. Usually it was the fox. In the water section, he could not find a way out of the water, so my camera was locked, and I couldn't progress. It was somewhat funny looking, but the more things like that happened, the more annoying it got.
- Ending - The story was... fine. But I don't understand what happened at the end. To avoid spoilers, I won't tell anything more. It just feels like they wanted the last section to be more impactful than it really had to be from the story perspective.
The good sides:
- Art style - Gorgeous. The characters, their animations, the background, the weather, even the ugly-looking antagonists and spirits are looking cool.
- Inspiration - The game was created with the Alaska Natives, Iñupiat, in mind. Their folklore, language, and setting is interwoven into the main story. It's always cool when a modern medium such as video games focus on people many of us did not even know exist. It's not just a gameplay - you can learn something interesting from it.
- Forgiving gameplay - Checkpoints are set densely. Whenever you fail, the game puts you somewhere close so you don't waste too much time dying over and over the same spot. Which in itself happened to me quite rarely. The only frustrating part was with these stupid walking trees. Other than that, the game is pretty chill.
- Length - Sadly it was not a very interesting game, but it didn't drag forever. It took me about 3 hours to finish. So unfortunately it is a good thing coming out of a bad thing.
So I'm in the middle with my rating. I'd give it 2.5 but because of the focus on spreading the knowledge about the Iñupiat folklore I can give it an additional 0.5 stars.
I can't recommend it for the gameplay. It's a boring experience. But it has some interesting facts to learn, especially that these weren't just facts thrown at you as a text, but they are the part of the gameplay and story. 3/5 is the final score.