Ravenlok wastes no time in showing off a gorgeous world, highlighted by vibrant colours, unique environments and a charming art style. Unfortunately, it’s lacking in almost all other departments. From shallow gameplay to frustrating camera control and simplistic story, Ravenlok leaves little reason for most older audiences to give it a try, even if younger audiences could certainly befit from the neat visuals and streamlined design.
The Other Side
Players take control of a young girl, who moves to a new farm with her parents. The game begins on moving day, as we name our protagonist, choose an accessory for our dog Waffles, and proceed to help our parents with moving in. I must say, it’s hilarious that we even get to choose between one of three accessories for Waffles to wear, simply because we never get to make a similar customisable choice within the game again, let alone see Waffles for more than 10 minutes during this introduction. It’s only when she discovers a unique mirror hidden in the nearby barn, that she is sucked into Wonderland Dunia, a vibrant fantasy world akin to something ripped right out of Alice in Wonderland.
Our protagonist enters this world only to find that it’s ruled by an evil queen. As most would guess, it’s your task as the titular Ravenlok, to explore this world, gear up and take down the evil queen for good. While I appreciate unique supporting cast, the simplistic storytelling usually exists to highlight something else within the game. For example, most people don’t really care about narratives within the Tekken or Street Fighter franchises, because it’s mostly about the gameplay mechanics. Ravenlok fails to trade in this simplistic story for any real gameplay depth, leaving the narrative itself feeling relatively mundane. Most missions boil down to simple fetch quests and boss fights. While you can take on multiple quests at once, it is nice to see that certain quests overlap each other, helping to guide you in the right direction.
Sword and Shield at the Ready
In terms of gameplay, Ravenlok largely misses the mark. It’s incredibly functional, but lacks any form of depth in terms of both variety and progression. You’ll find a sword and shield early on in the narrative, which ultimately boils down to a dedicated attack and block button. With only a single attack available at your disposal, repetition soon sets in as you find yourself wildly swinging at anything that comes near you. The shield also poses little to no variety, as attacks are easily telegraphed, and usually give you enough time to dodge out of the way. You can also equip bombs to throw at enemies in the distance, which are incredibly overpowered, defeating almost all basic enemy types with a single throw. You do eventually do unlock a couple of special attacks along the way, buy these do little to shake up combat given the each rely on their own cooldown meters.
Your sword can be upgraded throughout the game by collecting feathers, which feel relatively easy to find and are well dispersed throughout Ravenlok’s 5-6 hour runtime. Coins can also be collected to purchase consumables and gear from local stalls, but it sometimes feels a little cheap, as breakable jars which hide these coins seem to respawn once you leave an re-enter each area. Thankfully, that shorter runtime saves these issues from breaking the game in any meaningful way.
For as bright and vibrant as Ravenlok’s environments are, the camera control really lets it down. The game plays out like a 2.5D adventure, although there exist various larger environments for you to roam around in and some downright stunning vistas to take in. That being said, Ravenlok’s camera simply won’t let you pan around 360 degrees, instead locking up when you pan too far left or too far right. I would understand if this decision was made in an attempt to focus on the action, but when you’re trying to backtrack or walk towards the camera into a new environment, you simply cannot see see what lies ahead.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Ravenlok feels like missed opportunity in terms of both narrative and gameplay design. There’s a unique world to explore, with the shorter runtime making this relatively easy to finish in a day or two. While it might be better suited to a younger audience, Ravenlok lacks any real depth, making it somewhat frustrating to play at times. The camera control also rarely helps with encouraging exploration, compounded by the fact that general combat soon falls victim to repetition.
TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Gorgeous environments; Charming art style
Lowlights: Repetitive and basic combat; Frustrating camera
Developer: Cococucumber
Publisher: Cococucumber
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows PC
Available: Now
Review conducted on Xbox Series X with a pre-release code provided by the publisher.
