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Don't Nod, the publishers behind the charming adventure game Koira, have released the demo ahead of the game's Steam launch, and while the demo isn't available for everyone just yet, we had the privilege to take a sneak peek into it. Even after just twenty minutes of gameplay, it's clear that this game will win many gamers' hearts. The emotional story, filled with love between the protagonist and a small stray puppy, along with its strong connection to music, makes this game particularly interesting.
What I really liked about this small demo was the way in which its story was told. As soon as you start playing the game, you're thrown into its charming world, in which darkness seems to be ruling, and you are immediately shown that friendship will be the only way to fight this darkness.
The game doesn't say a single word, not even the speech bubbles—if the puppy wants you to do something, or vice versa, you'll receive the prompts in the form of icons and you'll have to figure out on your own what to do next. For example, the puppy likes to eat apples, and when he's hungry, his stomach will growl. The apples will be there, hanging on trees. You'll have to find a stick, throw it to hit the apple, and then your puppy will eat it and be happy.
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On your journey together, you'll be solving a lot of puzzles. Those puzzles aren't that difficult, at least not those available in the demo, but the good thing is that the game doesn't hold your hand in solving them; you'll have to do it by yourself without a single hint. Your dog has a special ability to break the darkness with his glowing nose, but sometimes his nose stops glowing. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to make it glow again and continue with the journey—as I said, the game doesn't hold your hand at all.
Apart from solving puzzles, there's not much more to the gameplay; basically, Koira is just a walking simulator throughout very linear levels. The game is designed to be played with the camera following from an isometric perspective, which reveals a level as you progress through it.
You'll be doing some other cute activities that will strengthen the bonds between you and your puppy, like making a snowman inside a snow level or playing hide-and-seek with him inside a level with a lot of bushes and places to hide. Basically, all you'll be doing in Koira will be related to making a strong bond with your puppy friend on the very interesting and cute journey you two will take together.
The visual presentation is, much like the game itself, very interesting and perfectly complements the dark atmosphere in which the game takes place. The colour palette is mostly black and white, with occasionally coloured objects like apples the puppy likes to eat or any other important object. For example, on the occasion when you are making a snowman, you'll have to find a carrot for his nose. The carrot is red, while everything else is just black and white.
Much like the visuals, sounds play a pivotal role in Koira because core gameplay mechanics are connected to the melodies. For example, when you want to call the puppy, you will use the whistle command, and many puzzles are solved by finding different melodies throughout the levels.
So the music and sounds in this game are very well-made, and I guarantee you'll enjoy every soundtrack the game throws your way; I know I did. Once you collect several melodies required for certain puzzles, the music that starts in the background is always very nice, and I must say, for such a small, indie game, those soundtracks hold very high quality.
Conclusion
As much as it can be said from the twenty-minute-long gameplay, Koira is poised to be a very nice game with beautiful art style and sounds of high quality, ready to match even the great Triple-A titles. The demo promises a cute game that has great potential, especially in the story, which could be very emotional and different, mostly because of the different storytelling technique.
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