In an era where games feel like they need to have deep gameplay systems and a complex narrative, sometimes you can’t help but appreciate when a title comes along that keeps things simple. In some cases, simplicity can hinder a title, thus making everything it has to offer feel limited in comparison to others on the market. If done right, however, a game that has a short runtime, straightforward gameplay, and a relatively plain story can stand alongside the best of the medium.
On the surface, Koira is a game that may not click for many. There is no dialogue, extended lore, or mechanics that allow for experimentation or differing playthroughs. Instead, what you’re left with is a game that tells its narrative through beautiful visuals, musical cues, brief puzzle segments, and a charming bond between a shadow creature and its adorable dog.
Koira attempts to do a lot with very little. Thankfully, despite some minor bugs, I am ecstatic to say that the game exceeded all expectations and left me with an experience that had me tearing up by the end.
Heartwarming and Heartwrenching
Koira‘s story is very abstract. You start the game as a creature of shadow with an unknown origin, thrown into a world beyond its understanding. Within moments of landing in this world, you encounter a dog covered in the same shadows as you. While it is initially weary of your presence, after using music to signal your harmlessness, the two of you bond and embark on a journey to find a home.
Along the way, the two characters encounter friendly animals like boars, squirrels, and birds. On the flipside, you also meet enemies who threaten the nature you explore. Hunters using guns and caged animals that will chase you with no care of who or what they hurt in the process. The protagonist must choose between a life of peace where they’re constantly on the wrong or making the hunters pay for their crimes.
The game conveys its story only through sound and brief cutscenes. There is no dialogue, only music, expressions, and physical interactions between characters. This creates a unique identity for Koira, unlike anything I’ve seen in a long time. The only comparison I can think of is something like Journey, but Koira‘s visual design helps to further separate it from other games.
The visuals of Koira are extremely charming. Every character looks absolutely adorable, especially the dog. The dog looks like a character designed to be turned into a plushie (and I’ll definitely be getting one if the developers choose to make it). Part of the charm comes from the character’s expressions.
The expressions of each character are very dynamic and filled with personality. Despite the protagonist not having a mouth, a lot of their feelings and emotions come across through their eyes. One of my favorite moments is when the two main characters slide down an ice slope and the protagonist slips off a cliff, and their eyes go impossibly wide. It feels like a classic cartoon moment, and it’s great.
The actual visuals themselves are drop-dead gorgeous. There are several scenes where you will stand and observe a beautiful vista, overlooking a forest, a snowy mountain, or nature in its purest form. The art style feels evocative of a Dreamworks film, such as The Wild Robot. That works to its benefit because there really isn’t a game on the market that looks like Koira.
The sound design is also fantastic. There is a specific motif that repeats throughout the game that represents the connection between both the protagonist and their dog. Every time that theme repeats, it causes me to feel a sense of serenity and peace that is uncommon in these sorts of games. One of my favorite sounds is the one the dog makes every time you feed it. The decision to make its bark a harmonica further adds to the game’s charm.
Despite its simplicity, in the moments where Koira‘s narrative elements come together, it is absolutely gut-wrenching. There were several moments where I was beaming during a scene and just as many sections where I could almost feel tears welling up in my eyes. It’s a game that wears its heart on its sleeve and aims to tell a narrative about man vs. nature.
Instead of playing as a human character, though, you get to see the plight of nature first hand. It’s deeply compelling, and even in the absence of dialogue, the ways that the game communicated its story had me hooked from beginning to end. This is a title that will make your heart soar in one scene and tear it out in the next, and I loved it for that.
That being said, you may be wondering how the gameplay holds up. While the story may be compelling despite its abstract style, how does the simple approach affect its mechanics? While Koira‘s gameplay isn’t the most engaging, and there are several major bugs, the mechanics work very well in tandem with the narrative.
Flawed, But Still Fun
Koira follows a very simplistic gameplay structure. Throughout most of the game, you’re simply walking through nature, exploring the sights as you try to find a home for both you and your dog. Where the pattern deviates is through a variety of different puzzles you’ll encounter throughout the five-hour runtime.
Most of the puzzles ask you to collect an item for a specific character. Sometimes, it’ll be collecting a piece of fruit for your dog, finding a boar’s children and returning them to their parent, finding a piece of a shrine, or finding music notes to sing in order to further resonate with the environment. Oftentimes, these tasks can feel like busy work, but the variety of tasks helps to keep things fresh. Especially since each puzzle helps to further the themes.
Take the sections where you’re looking for a boar’s children. Throughout, you’re constantly seeing the impact of humanity on nature and how they constantly infect it and try to control it through oppression. Even if the task is as simple as “find a boar, pick it up, bring it to a specific destination,” it helps to add more dimension to the story. This applies to the other puzzles as well.
In many areas, you’ll be forced to hide in bushes in order to evade the hunters and their attack dogs. Sometimes, these sections are a little jank since the slightest movement of a bush will alert them to your position, but it’s not too bad. Plus, the game trains you for these sections with moments where you play hide-and-seek with your dog. These stealth areas are challenging and also add to the “man vs. nature” theme.
On the subject of hide and seek, my favorite puzzles in the game were the more whimsical ones. Looking for a piece of fruit for your dog and getting to hear his little harmonica-bark had me grinning like a child. Some of the other mini-games, where you are identifying clouds in the sky or sliding across an icy slope, have a childlike whimsy that is unbelievably charming. These were some of the game’s best parts.
Unfortunately, I encountered a few major bugs throughout the game. Some of them were pretty minor, such as in one case where a hunter got stuck in a bush and started glitching. On the other hand, there were cases where my game would crash during a transition between one area and another.
The most devastating glitch was when the boar mini-game prevented me from returning one of its children, despite the child being right in front of its parent. I reloaded a save, and I ended up losing thirty minutes of progress. Hopefully, these issues will be fixed in the coming days and weeks.
Despite these bugs, I still had a lot of fun with Koira‘s gameplay, despite its simplicity. All in all, even if you purchase the game expecting very little due to its very rudimentary style, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Greatness from Small Beginnings
Nowadays, I’ve found myself appreciating when a game decides to keep things grounded. Not necessarily in its tone, but more in its execution. There are so many titles these days that have complex systems and a massive story filled with big stakes, an expansive world, and several twists and turns. Sometimes, it’s nice when a game decides to keep it simple. Koira is one such game.
The story takes a very basic concept, man vs. nature, and turns it into a narrative that has a creature and its dog desperately trying to find a home in an oppressive world. There is no dialogue, no background history, nothing you need to know before jumping in. The gameplay mostly consists of very easy puzzles and some challenging stealth sections. This formula should not work, yet it does. It works because Koira is an incredibly charming experience.
The game’s visual design is absolutely beautiful, with adorable characters and stunning scenery. The gameplay segments help to further its themes, and a lot of the narrative beats had me feeling extremely emotional. Even now, I’m still thinking about the game’s characters, even though they never speak a single line of dialogue. By the time the credits rolled, I had fully fallen in love with this unforgettable game.
Koira is a magical adventure that I adored from beginning to end. While the game’s bugs did detract somewhat from the overall experience, if you’re looking for a cozy experience that you can beat within a few hours, then this is the game for you. If you need more convincing, you can also pet the dog, which is always a plus. I can’t wait to see what other games Studio Tolima has planned because this is a fantastic start.
Disclaimer: DON’T NOD provided Final Weapon with a PlayStation 5 copy of Koira for review purposes.
