I first heard of and got my hands on Koira by playing its demo during Steam Next Fest, and upon completing it, I knew right away that I needed it. Now that it’s here, while it left some things to be desired, the game is quite a moody delight.
In Koira, your character wakes up all alone in a dark forest far from home. Upon fearfully walking around, you come across a puppy that fell victim to a rope trap and after saving him, that’s when the journey home begins.
The game is a story about friendship. It’s all about you and the safety and happiness of your four-legged friend who can light up the world around him. At about four hours, it’s definitely on the shorter side, but in that short amount of time I really grew to be attached to the puppy. This in itself is impressive because there’s no dialog spoken in Koira. All forms of expression in the game are tied to its visuals and sound.
Riding on a boar alongside my puppy. That’s wholesome content.
Koira has a wonderfully hand-drawn style akin to something like Patapon. Every living thing in the game is black, with details in white or some form of red or yellow. So with the protagonist, he’s a shadowy figure with visible eyes on his profile. It’s the same thing with the puppy, who has distinctive eyes but also the light-up nose mentioned earlier. From the start, you’ll have a lot of curious and happy moments as you and the dog form this bond, and you’ll see that in the eye animations alone.
That said, not everything is happy-go-lucky. The forest is suffering because of hunters, and aside from ruining everything around them, they’re dead set on kidnapping the dog. Together with their hunting hounds, you can tell the hunters are menacing just because of their evil-looking eyes along with the music really enhancing the senses.
Music is a huge proponent in Koira. It helps guide the story, while also making the forest itself feel like a living and breathing character. The game has its fair share of light puzzles revolving around music that’ll open linear paths through the forest. Some are as simple as looking for certain collectables to bring to a shrine. Others rely on you just looking for different paths to get to certain points on the map. It’s nothing difficult at all.
The one thing in the game that might prove challenging are in stealth segments. There’ll be a few instances where you have to hide from the aforementioned hunters and their hounds in foggy areas, and sometimes these segments will force you to take a chance and try to run away when you know they aren’t looking. You’re bound to fail a few times, but it’s nothing impossible. The music and visuals also do a lot to add to the intensity of some of these moments.
Don’t worry, this game isn’t 100% darkness. It’s a mostly happy title!
I won’t go too far into it because it sort of delves into spoiler territory, but you’ll also reach a point where combat exists. A huge feeling you’ll get in the game is rage, and when your character rages, he has the ability to rid the forest of anybody or thing that proves troublesome. (Notice how I said “get rid of” instead of “defeat” or “kill,” because it just doesn’t make sense for any sort of defeat to happen in context). The problem is when he goes into this rage mode, the dog also cowers in fear–another challenging and authentic aspect in any relationship.
Bonding with the dog is where Koira shines the most. You’ll be looking up at the sky finding images of things the dog is thinking about, you’ll be throwing twigs at trees hoping to get apples down for the dog to eat, you’ll be playing hide-and-seek… I’ve never actually owned a pet, but this light virtual pet aspect in Koira just really helped provide that feeling of warmth. It’s a master class of keeping things simple leading to the most rewarding of results.
To get more granular with my criticism of Koira, my biggest issue with the game might be happenstance to most people, but I have to mention it: the game doesn’t have a Platinum trophy. I’m not one of those people that has to 100% every game I play, but when it comes to short, but holistic experiences like Koira–I do have that itch. The fact that it doesn’t have one was an absolute downer, and it’s simply puzzling because every game DON’T NOD has published has one. On top of that, the hardest trophy in the game requires you to find all the hats (which are nothing more than cosmetic items for the dog), but there’s no way to track your progress on that feat. The game does include a chapter select like most DON’T NOD games which traditionally have been used for achievement cleanup, but without a way to see which hats you’ve already collected, it’s kind of pointless.
Coming up with a verdict for Koira is pretty hard, especially when we’re talking about whether this game is worth your time and money. The game is very much a 2D walking simulator, and that’ll turn people off. At the same time, the care and love put into the game’s simplistic presentation will make it a masterpiece to plenty of people. I’d say it’s a fair value at $17.99 and I wouldn’t blame anyone for waiting for a sale, but the small team at Studio Tolima does deserve their flowers. Value aside, if you’re looking for a short experience that’ll make you feel, or if you want something that’ll tide you over as you wait for a bigger title, Koira should resonate with a lot of people.
if you’re looking for a short experience that’ll make you feel, or if you want something that’ll tide you over as you wait for a bigger title, Koira should resonate with a lot of people.
I first heard of and got my hands on Koira by playing its demo during Steam Next Fest, and upon completing it, I knew right away that I needed it. Now that it’s here, while it left some things to be desired, the game is quite a moody delight.
In Koira, your character wakes up all alone in a dark forest far from home. Upon fearfully walking around, you come across a puppy that fell victim to a rope trap and after saving him, that’s when the journey home begins.
The game is a story about friendship. It’s all about you and the safety and happiness of your four-legged friend who can light up the world around him. At about four hours, it’s definitely on the shorter side, but in that short amount of time I really grew to be attached to the puppy. This in itself is impressive because there’s no dialog spoken in Koira. All forms of expression in the game are tied to its visuals and sound.
Riding on a boar alongside my puppy. That’s wholesome content.
Koira has a wonderfully hand-drawn style akin to something like Patapon. Every living thing in the game is black, with details in white or some form of red or yellow. So with the protagonist, he’s a shadowy figure with visible eyes on his profile. It’s the same thing with the puppy, who has distinctive eyes but also the light-up nose mentioned earlier. From the start, you’ll have a lot of curious and happy moments as you and the dog form this bond, and you’ll see that in the eye animations alone.
That said, not everything is happy-go-lucky. The forest is suffering because of hunters, and aside from ruining everything around them, they’re dead set on kidnapping the dog. Together with their hunting hounds, you can tell the hunters are menacing just because of their evil-looking eyes along with the music really enhancing the senses.
Music is a huge proponent in Koira. It helps guide the story, while also making the forest itself feel like a living and breathing character. The game has its fair share of light puzzles revolving around music that’ll open linear paths through the forest. Some are as simple as looking for certain collectables to bring to a shrine. Others rely on you just looking for different paths to get to certain points on the map. It’s nothing difficult at all.
The one thing in the game that might prove challenging are in stealth segments. There’ll be a few instances where you have to hide from the aforementioned hunters and their hounds in foggy areas, and sometimes these segments will force you to take a chance and try to run away when you know they aren’t looking. You’re bound to fail a few times, but it’s nothing impossible. The music and visuals also do a lot to add to the intensity of some of these moments.
Don’t worry, this game isn’t 100% darkness. It’s a mostly happy title!
I won’t go too far into it because it sort of delves into spoiler territory, but you’ll also reach a point where combat exists. A huge feeling you’ll get in the game is rage, and when your character rages, he has the ability to rid the forest of anybody or thing that proves troublesome. (Notice how I said “get rid of” instead of “defeat” or “kill,” because it just doesn’t make sense for any sort of defeat to happen in context). The problem is when he goes into this rage mode, the dog also cowers in fear–another challenging and authentic aspect in any relationship.
Bonding with the dog is where Koira shines the most. You’ll be looking up at the sky finding images of things the dog is thinking about, you’ll be throwing twigs at trees hoping to get apples down for the dog to eat, you’ll be playing hide-and-seek… I’ve never actually owned a pet, but this light virtual pet aspect in Koira just really helped provide that feeling of warmth. It’s a master class of keeping things simple leading to the most rewarding of results.
To get more granular with my criticism of Koira, my biggest issue with the game might be happenstance to most people, but I have to mention it: the game doesn’t have a Platinum trophy. I’m not one of those people that has to 100% every game I play, but when it comes to short, but holistic experiences like Koira–I do have that itch. The fact that it doesn’t have one was an absolute downer, and it’s simply puzzling because every game DON’T NOD has published has one. On top of that, the hardest trophy in the game requires you to find all the hats (which are nothing more than cosmetic items for the dog), but there’s no way to track your progress on that feat. The game does include a chapter select like most DON’T NOD games which traditionally have been used for achievement cleanup, but without a way to see which hats you’ve already collected, it’s kind of pointless.
Coming up with a verdict for Koira is pretty hard, especially when we’re talking about whether this game is worth your time and money. The game is very much a 2D walking simulator, and that’ll turn people off. At the same time, the care and love put into the game’s simplistic presentation will make it a masterpiece to plenty of people. I’d say it’s a fair value at $17.99 and I wouldn’t blame anyone for waiting for a sale, but the small team at Studio Tolima does deserve their flowers. Value aside, if you’re looking for a short experience that’ll make you feel, or if you want something that’ll tide you over as you wait for a bigger title, Koira should resonate with a lot of people.
by Danreb Victorio
