In a sea of farming and crafting simulators, having a singular look or idea can actually assist a sport stand out. Aka stars an cute crimson panda and encompasses a cozy, painting-like artwork fashion, which was greater than sufficient to seize my curiosity after I heard about its crowdfunding marketing campaign earlier this yr. Sadly, the lovable design is about all Aka has going for it as a result of the remainder of the expertise is unengaging, clunky, and quick. These hoping for extra could very nicely discover themselves Turning Crimson.
Aka begins with nearly no setup, plopping you on a abandoned battlefield the place the titular character has determined he has had sufficient of struggle and decides to depart for an island to begin a brand new life on the invitation of an outdated buddy. This nice struggle Aka is getting away from is central to the “story,” for those who can name it that, as a result of the primary questline entails discovering and serving to ghosts from Aka’s time on the entrance. Whenever you full a ghost’s quest, Aka remembers who they’re, and also you see a brief cutscene that recounts how they died. The hand-drawn art work for these scenes is beautiful, however the tales are so barebones: the sport spends so little time explaining the struggle, Aka’s function in it, or these folks so pricey to him that it’s extremely troublesome to really feel any connection to the characters or the narrative. Actually, calling it a story is virtually a lie as a result of the sport doesn’t expend the trouble to inform any kind of coherent story.
To be truthful, that’s not a dealbreaker in and of itself. In spite of everything, loads of video games haven’t any story in any way and are nonetheless enjoyable to play. However, and you may in all probability guess the place I’m going with this, Aka isn’t a type of video games. The core gameplay loop entails working round 4 small, isometric islands, selecting up primarily repetitive quests — do away with traps, clear away outdated ruins, chop down useless bushes — whereas gathering or rising supplies to craft a small assortment of things. This can be a little attention-grabbing the primary couple of occasions you do it however turns into boring lengthy earlier than you “end” the sport and see the credit.
A part of the issue is that there’s little route or steering in Aka. Outdoors of a foundational tutorial at first of the sport, you’re largely left to your personal units to search out issues to do and to learn to do them. That kind of freedom can really feel thrilling in a bigger sandbox sport, however right here it simply feels aimless. There isn’t even all that a lot to do within the first place, and due to the virtually nonexistent story and forgettable characters, you don’t really feel notably motivated to do greater than essential to “beat” the sport. As an example, you’ll be able to craft just a few items of furnishings to embellish your own home, however as soon as the novelty of taking part in inside decorator wears off, you notice that you don’t have any cause to be making any of these things since you don’t actually have any cause to be in your house after the start of the sport. Equally, you need to do some gentle farming to get a number of the supplies you want for quests, however you don’t have any different cause to interact with the system. You’ll be able to’t promote your crops, and you may’t construct a farming village or any of the belongings you would possibly anticipate to do in video games with related setups.
Determining methods to do issues in Aka will also be a problem as a result of the sport doesn’t sufficiently clarify its fundamental programs. For instance, there’s a collectible card sport you’ll be able to play, however except you go to the best island and speak to the best NPC, you’re merely thrust right into a match and have to determine methods to play on the fly. Once more, this sort of discover-as-you-go gameplay might be enjoyable, however right here it simply looks like an oversight. Working example, I couldn’t work out methods to “beat” the sport till I watched a YouTube video, as a result of the sport doesn’t make it in any respect clear the place the final ghost is. I’m not saying the sport wanted to carry my hand, but it surely undoubtedly wanted to signpost issues quite a bit higher.
Even the controls in Aka want some work. Inserting crafted objects and farming are notably irritating actions. Aka targets the area immediately in entrance of him, however as a result of he can transfer in any route in an primarily isometric grid, getting him to face the best means and thus goal the best sq. might be deceptively troublesome. He additionally feels a little bit floaty when shifting round, so that you’ll usually suppose you’re pointing him in the best route solely to have him overshoot or find yourself adjoining to the place you anticipated. Like nearly every thing else on this sport, the controls technically work, however they really feel extraordinarily clunky. I performed with a controller, so I don’t know if a keyboard and mouse would enhance issues. However then once more, this sport can be on Change, the place a controller is your solely choice, so there’s actually no excuse.
As if all that wasn’t sufficient, Aka can be quick and glitchy. You’ll be able to in all probability “beat” the sport in a single sitting, and it took a slower participant like me just a few periods to see every thing the sport has to supply. I additionally encountered a good quantity of bugs throughout my playthrough. Some had been fastened with a restart, however others persevered, and one appeared to render a quest unfinishable, although fortunately it was not one of many ghost quests required to see the top credit. The developer is conscious of a few of these bugs, so I think about they are going to be patched, however they’re laborious to disregard as a result of the remainder of the sport is comparatively weak.
After all, even a weak sport would possibly nonetheless be value it for the best worth. Aka isn’t notably costly, however I nonetheless discover myself unable to suggest it attributable to its many points. Ultimately, I ask myself whether or not I might be glad if I had purchased the sport for myself as a substitute of receiving a evaluation code. Sadly, the reply is not any.
You can take a nap on an enormous capybara, although, so there’s that.
