Chris InglisKAKU: Ancient Seal is an open world action-adventure game developed by Bingobell. It launched on Steam on July 12, 2024, and is a mix of exploration, puzzles and combat as you play as Kaku, a boy tasked with restoring balance to the land. After an initial area where you are guided by an old geiser and taught the basics of exploration, combat and puzzle solving, you eventually come to four distinct elemental realms with plenty of monsters and challenges to overcome. The game’s graphics are vibrant and while the game feels a little linear initially, it becomes more open to explore at your own pace as you look to complete each realm.
The game’s story is centered around the restoration of an ancient temple and the reuniting of elemental souls. As you defeat the first boss and open access to the realms, you start to uncover more about the game’s lore and history of this once-harmonious land. There is just enough story to keep driving you forward as Kaku learns attack combos and new divine powers while he faces bigger and stronger threats. However, it was the combination of exploration and puzzle solving elements that had me invested.
The initial attraction to the game for me was seeing the detailed and colourful world that Kaku is navigating, with each elemental region boasting distinct aesthetics and challenges. From a lush jungle and fiery depths to a frozen wasteland, the game’s world design encourages exploration and discovery. Some of the vistas you can look out over are breathtaking at times, while other times you get some occasional texture popping in and out to remind you that this is an indie game with a lot of heart. The mix of enemies and bosses you encounter are appropriately armed and vulnerable to the elements around you.
Kaku utilises both melee and ranged weapons, starting with a club and a slingshot. Different ranged ammunition can be crafted by collecting corresponding resources found in the wild. You can utilise combos to add more damage and elemental effects, and your off hand armblade can sap an enemy’s shields, to the point of stunning them. Food can be collected that heals you but can also be cooked on a stove into a meal that provides Kaku with buffs like extra health or more stamina regen. Some combat encounters can become repetitive but having the ability to use different elemental powers and ammo and switching weapons on the fly adds some excitement to each encounter.
Puzzle design starts off quite simple in the first area, including some platforming double jumps and air dashes, gradually increasing in complexity but none of them were a challenge like other games. As you explore new lands you will have levers to pull, cylinders to rotate and shooting objects with varying elemental ammo. The integration of puzzle-solving with exploration adds some depth and variety to the gameplay. There were times in between evening sessions where I forgot how to beat some blockages, and the tutorials didn’t cover those aspects enough for me, but a quick look at YouTube playthroughs got me back on track.
Overall, KAKU: Ancient Seal is an enjoyable and satisfying open-world experience that had surprising depth and some excellent visuals. It was fun learning the different puzzle mechanics as you progressed given the story was a little light but enough to keep you upgrading Kaku’s skills and equipment. I played in multiple short bursts as I feel it would get too repetitive for sessions of multiple hours. I do recommend the game for action-adventure enthusiasts and play beyond the starting area because it really opens up for you to explore further and at your own pace.
This review utilised a key provided by Pirate PR and KAKU: Ancient Seal is available now on Steam and is in development for Xbox and PlayStation.
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Yonan