Bokida – Heartfelt Reunion Review

<p>Developed by Rice Cooker Republic – a small development team from Paris&comma; France – <em>Bokida &&num;8211&semi; Heartfelt Reunion<&sol;em> is an abstract&comma; adventure puzzle game where you explore a strange monochromatic open world with the sole goal of reuniting two lost planets&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the heart and soul of the game&comma; <em>Bokida<&sol;em> <em>– Heartfelt Reunion<&sol;em> is a story of love as you play as the Messenger who is tasked with reuniting two long lost planets – weird&comma; I know&period; <em>Bokida<&sol;em>’s story-line – while narrated in Korean –feels rather vague and at times quite bare – almost as if it is missing something&period; While <em>Bokida<&sol;em>’s storyline won’t be winning it any awards anytime soon&comma; it does offer something unique and new that not many games have the courage to do&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now I’m sure you are all wondering just how <em>Bokida – Heartfelt Reunion <&sol;em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;destiny-diablo-iii-jonathan-blows-witness-coming-playstation-4&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">compares to <em>The Witness<&sol;em> when it comes to difficulty<&sol;a>&period; Well&comma; <em>Bokida&period;<&sol;em> thankfully isn’t as challenging as <em>The Witness<&sol;em>&comma; but it does bring with it a different challenge that isn’t often seen&period; This challenge&period; which is one of the most interesting things about <em>Bokida <&sol;em>-is that nothing in the game really guides you&comma; leaving you to essentially figure out all of the puzzles by yourself&period; There are no tutorials or even hints to guide you through completing them&period; If you get stuck&comma; it’s up to you to find a solution&comma; even if it means searching through forums and YouTube gameplays&period; While the puzzles are not that difficult&comma; some have the potential to leave you questioning for several minutes on just how to complete them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;126408" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-126408" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-126408" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;10233255&sol;Bokida-Puzzle-Gameplay-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-126408" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Bokida &&num;8211&semi; Heartfelt Reunion&comma; Rice Cooker Republic&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The game itself though is very minimalist&comma; as you are tasked with only using four core mechanics throughout the entire game&period; While you will only be able to place blocks at first&comma; you will quickly start unlocking more tools as you progress through the game&period; These tools include Build&comma; Cut&comma; Push&comma; and Clean&period; which&comma; as their names suggest&comma; are pretty straight forward&period; To solve these puzzles&comma; you’ll be using your build tool the most as it is essentially the core tool of the entire game&period; You will use this tool to solve almost every puzzle within the game&comma; and also to reach higher locations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cut&comma; the second most frequently used tool&comma; is used to cut blocks and other objects throughout the world into specific shapes in order to bounce black lazer like beams from one puzzle piece to the next&period; The third and fourth tools are the least used and are almost deemed useless as the Push tool helps move blocks that you’ve placed around the world&comma; while the clean tool removes all the blocks you’ve placed within a radius that is set by holding the mouse button&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;126403" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-126403" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-126403" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;10232036&sol;Bokida-Gameplay-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-126403" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Bokida &&num;8211&semi; Heartfelt Reunion&comma; Rice Cooker Republic&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The learning curb for <em>Bokida<&sol;em> is quite straight forward as the game presents you with multiple tutorials through the game&period; whether it’s at the beginning of the game or after unlocking a new ability&comma; <em>Bokida <&sol;em>will guide you step-by-step on exactly how to use the mechanics&period;  If you’re like me though&comma; using a controller is a must when playing on PC however&semi; a controller just doesn’t seem to cut it with <em>Bokida<&sol;em> as the level of accuracy needed for the game just doesn’t pair well with the controller&period; So having to go back to the days of using a mouse and keyboard – given that the game uses WASD&comma; Spacebar and Tab – it can sometimes feel a little awkward and hard to control&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Getting around the game isn’t an easy feat either&comma; as not only is the game extremely difficult to navigate but it is also very slow to travel around <em>Bokida<&sol;em>’s open world environment&period; Although the player does have the option to use the boost jumping and gliding feature&comma; the process of travelling to and from different puzzle locations really seems to take an excessively large amount of time&period; The monochrome aesthetics also make it very difficult to find your bearings and locate new puzzles as everything looks similar&period; Getting lost is undoubtedly something that you will experience at some point throughout the game &&num;8211&semi; a simple compass or small map would be a quick fix to this issue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;126403" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-126403" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-126403" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;10232036&sol;Bokida-Gameplay-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-126403" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Bokida &&num;8211&semi; Heartfelt Reunion&comma; Rice Cooker Republic&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>One of the first things you will notice when playing <em>Bokida- Heartfelt Reunion<&sol;em> is just how beautiful the game is as its monochromatic world of whites and greys really compliment the game on an overall experience&period; You will also occasionally find pops of colour throughout the different puzzles and environments you travel through&period; From its field of brightly colored low-poly trees or even the flocks of fish swimming around&comma; it is safe to say that <em>Bokida<&sol;em> is currently among some of the most stunning games of 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Bokida<&sol;em>’s performance really seems to be where the game falls flat&comma; at least on my end as it was found that the game constantly encountered performance issues&period; Performance issues are usually something that I tend not to mention as most of the time&comma; they are usually quite minor and don’t ruin the overall experience&comma; which at times seems to be the cause for <em>Bodika<&sol;em>&period; The main issues that the game suffers from are lag spikes&comma; and constant freezing where I was often left with puzzles that aren’t able to be completed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;126407" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-126407" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-126407" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;10232245&sol;Bokida-Stunning-Visuals-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-126407" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Bokida &&num;8211&semi; Heartfelt Reunion&comma; Rice Cooker Republic&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>After narrowing down the issue&comma; I found that the most likely caused was from too many blocks being on screen at one time or spread around the map&comma; thankfully there is a clear all button&comma; but the issue still seemed to linger until the game was restarted&period; Now&comma; I do want to state that I am not entirely certain if the issues were caused as a result of my computer specifications which are fairly decent or simply an issue with the game itself&period; I checked my RAM throughout the process&comma; but there never seemed to be an issue on my end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Music was something that <em>Bokida<&sol;em> managed to knock out of the park&comma; as the musical score of the game was nothing but superb&period; The relaxing tunes were an absolute pleasure to listen to and despite Rice Cooker Republic being a small indie development team&comma; I really have to hand it to them for the excellent work they did with <em>Bokida<&sol;em>’s sound work and visuals as it sets them well above many titles currently on the market&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;126405" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-126405" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-126405" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;10232203&sol;Bokida-Open-World-Environment-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-126405" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Bokida &&num;8211&semi; Heartfelt Reunion&comma; Rice Cooker Republic&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; <em>Bokida – Heartfelt Reunion <&sol;em>offers a uniquely different and refreshing experience that not many games offer&period; While Bokida may be a great way to showcase what videogames can achieve&comma; the game doesn’t come without its issues&period; From clunky controls&comma; poor performance&comma; long travel times and a rather annoying death spawning – all of these issues remain at a rather minor level without truly affecting the player experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With that being said&comma; if you are in the market for an aesthetically pleasing but rather challenging open world puzzle game&comma; then <em>Bokida – Heartfelt Reunion<&sol;em> is the game for you and at a price of &dollar;17&period;99 you simply can’t go wrong&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong><em>A PC review copy of Bokida – Heartfelt Reunion was provided by Rice Cooker Republic for the purpose of this review&period;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;