TL;DR - Ravenlok is a 3D action-adventure game that throws back to a simpler time. It’s charming style and simple gameplay mechanics make it an awesome introduction point for those who are new to video games.
Review:
One of my earliest gaming memories is with Spyro the Dragon on the PlayStation. My childhood was filled with hundreds of hours of adventure with the snarky purple dragon and his dragonfly companion. I was around 5 years old at the time and 3D gaming was still relatively new, and I had VERY limited prior experience with 2D video games, much less the vast three-dimensional world of the Dragon Kingdom I was about to be thrust into. As a result, I ended up wandering around a lot. I was having the time of my life as a little kid to be sure; but I was barely able to read at that age and trying to figure out where to go next or how to do a basic task was a bit of a reach for me. My mother, bless her heart, borrowed a strategy guide from a cousin and would sit with me and read through the guide, helping me figure stuff out and progress through the different levels. At one point I came upon a staircase with a series of magical armor sets that would come alive as you got too close and they couldn’t be destroyed through Spyro’s typical headbutt or flame breath. Our strategy guide told us that we’d have to run past them as fast as we could before they became alive. To be honest, I’m not sure if I tried it 100 times, a couple times, or if I simply viewed the task to be too large a task for my little hands to overcome. I do know that I ended up in my mom’s arms bawling my eyes out because I didn’t think I could do it. Eventually I did it, and I would become so good at Spyro and its sequels that playing through them became trivial.
Ravenlok is a game that made me think about Spyro. The games aren’t very similar. Spyro is a platforming focused adventure game and Ravenlok doesn’t even have a jump button; but Ravenlok had me reflecting on the games I played when I was little. Its presentation feels pulled straight from the PS1 and PS2 days, its story and world evoke childhood fairy tales like Alice in Wonderland or Spirited Away, and I couldn’t help but feel that this game wasn’t meant for me. In fact, Ravenlok feels like it was a game made for someone who has never played a game before; and that’s why it made me think of Spyro. I wonder, had this game come out in 1999 and little 5-year-old me had played it first, if maybe I wouldn’t have shed so many tears when I had to run past all those suits of armor in Spyro.
In Ravenlok you play as a young girl who has just moved with her family out to a countryside home they inherited from a deceased family member. After helping your mom and dad unpack a few things, you wander over to the old barn to have a look around and are pulled through a mirror into the magical land of Dunia. You’ll instantly notice the inspirations pulled from the Alice in Wonderland fairytale. There’s a white rabbit, an evil queen, enemies made of cards, and even a boss encounter with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. You are revealed to be the prophesied hero that is meant to liberate Dunia from the oppression of the evil queen, and your quest begins.
The other thing that will quickly pop out to you is Ravenlok’s visual style. The game uses a 3D pixelated art style that is quite unique. The characters and environments all avoid looking blocky or chunky and instead the visual choices all add to the storybook aesthetic. Colors, enemy designs, and environments all pop, and each section you progress through has its own distinct mood - from dark mushroom forests to grand, imposing theaters. The friendly creatures you meet along your journey all add to the experience as well with their own exaggerated and fantastical designs. The music is also really well done, with strong themes and catchy melodies that never got old in my playthrough.
Perhaps the weakest part of Ravenlok’s experience is its combat. You have an attack button, a block button, a dash, and each of the four shoulder buttons/triggers is assigned a special attack. The attack is fast and the animation is repetitive, and fights ultimately boiled down to me mashing the attack button while I waited for the next special attack to cool down for another use. Ravenlok’s journey doesn’t include any platforming, and while its adventure game elements of tracking down the right item to progress the story are fun to puzzle through, this leaves the combat feeling like it could use a bit more variety. So, it’s not especially deep; but I’m also hesitant to say that it’s bad. I think it matches the style of the game in the same way that headbutts and flame breaths match Spyro’s, but perhaps an additional mechanic or two could help keep combat fresh throughout the whole game.
The longer I think about Ravenlok, the more fond I become of it. It’s a simple game that doesn’t ask too much of the player. It’s got charming characters and a beautiful world. It’s short (coming in at about 4 hours for my playthrough) but well-paced and can be completed in only one or two sittings. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s a game with a vision that I think it successfully meets. It reminded me of simpler games from simpler times, and it’s got a lot of heart. It’s a perfect first game for beginners and it’s on my shortlist of games to introduce to my future kids if they ever want an interactive world to explore. It’s available on Xbox and PC via the Epic Games Store for $25, or it’s available through a Game Pass subscription if you’re so inclined. At that price it’s pretty easy for me to recommend, and I hope you have as much fun exploring the world of Dunia as I did.
Review:
One of my earliest gaming memories is with Spyro the Dragon on the PlayStation. My childhood was filled with hundreds of hours of adventure with the snarky purple dragon and his dragonfly companion. I was around 5 years old at the time and 3D gaming was still relatively new, and I had VERY limited prior experience with 2D video games, much less the vast three-dimensional world of the Dragon Kingdom I was about to be thrust into. As a result, I ended up wandering around a lot. I was having the time of my life as a little kid to be sure; but I was barely able to read at that age and trying to figure out where to go next or how to do a basic task was a bit of a reach for me. My mother, bless her heart, borrowed a strategy guide from a cousin and would sit with me and read through the guide, helping me figure stuff out and progress through the different levels. At one point I came upon a staircase with a series of magical armor sets that would come alive as you got too close and they couldn’t be destroyed through Spyro’s typical headbutt or flame breath. Our strategy guide told us that we’d have to run past them as fast as we could before they became alive. To be honest, I’m not sure if I tried it 100 times, a couple times, or if I simply viewed the task to be too large a task for my little hands to overcome. I do know that I ended up in my mom’s arms bawling my eyes out because I didn’t think I could do it. Eventually I did it, and I would become so good at Spyro and its sequels that playing through them became trivial.
Ravenlok is a game that made me think about Spyro. The games aren’t very similar. Spyro is a platforming focused adventure game and Ravenlok doesn’t even have a jump button; but Ravenlok had me reflecting on the games I played when I was little. Its presentation feels pulled straight from the PS1 and PS2 days, its story and world evoke childhood fairy tales like Alice in Wonderland or Spirited Away, and I couldn’t help but feel that this game wasn’t meant for me. In fact, Ravenlok feels like it was a game made for someone who has never played a game before; and that’s why it made me think of Spyro. I wonder, had this game come out in 1999 and little 5-year-old me had played it first, if maybe I wouldn’t have shed so many tears when I had to run past all those suits of armor in Spyro.
In Ravenlok you play as a young girl who has just moved with her family out to a countryside home they inherited from a deceased family member. After helping your mom and dad unpack a few things, you wander over to the old barn to have a look around and are pulled through a mirror into the magical land of Dunia. You’ll instantly notice the inspirations pulled from the Alice in Wonderland fairytale. There’s a white rabbit, an evil queen, enemies made of cards, and even a boss encounter with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. You are revealed to be the prophesied hero that is meant to liberate Dunia from the oppression of the evil queen, and your quest begins.
The other thing that will quickly pop out to you is Ravenlok’s visual style. The game uses a 3D pixelated art style that is quite unique. The characters and environments all avoid looking blocky or chunky and instead the visual choices all add to the storybook aesthetic. Colors, enemy designs, and environments all pop, and each section you progress through has its own distinct mood - from dark mushroom forests to grand, imposing theaters. The friendly creatures you meet along your journey all add to the experience as well with their own exaggerated and fantastical designs. The music is also really well done, with strong themes and catchy melodies that never got old in my playthrough.
Perhaps the weakest part of Ravenlok’s experience is its combat. You have an attack button, a block button, a dash, and each of the four shoulder buttons/triggers is assigned a special attack. The attack is fast and the animation is repetitive, and fights ultimately boiled down to me mashing the attack button while I waited for the next special attack to cool down for another use. Ravenlok’s journey doesn’t include any platforming, and while its adventure game elements of tracking down the right item to progress the story are fun to puzzle through, this leaves the combat feeling like it could use a bit more variety. So, it’s not especially deep; but I’m also hesitant to say that it’s bad. I think it matches the style of the game in the same way that headbutts and flame breaths match Spyro’s, but perhaps an additional mechanic or two could help keep combat fresh throughout the whole game.
The longer I think about Ravenlok, the more fond I become of it. It’s a simple game that doesn’t ask too much of the player. It’s got charming characters and a beautiful world. It’s short (coming in at about 4 hours for my playthrough) but well-paced and can be completed in only one or two sittings. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s a game with a vision that I think it successfully meets. It reminded me of simpler games from simpler times, and it’s got a lot of heart. It’s a perfect first game for beginners and it’s on my shortlist of games to introduce to my future kids if they ever want an interactive world to explore. It’s available on Xbox and PC via the Epic Games Store for $25, or it’s available through a Game Pass subscription if you’re so inclined. At that price it’s pretty easy for me to recommend, and I hope you have as much fun exploring the world of Dunia as I did.