If you're a fan of Super Mario 3D World or just 3D Platformers in general, oh boy do I have some news for you! Too much like a TV ad? I know... but don't worry I'm not going to attempt to sell you Koa & The Five Pirates of Mara, it will do that all by itself.
I tend to suck horribly at Platformers - sort of, not as bad as you might be picturing right now, but not "great" either - and it's why as much as I adore the games in the genre, I'm always scared going into one because I'm not sure if I'm going to end up passing the controller over to Ducky to have him masterfully maneuver through whatever the heck I was stuck on. I'm happy to say that as of late, that happens less and less, so I'm not sure if the games are easier or if I'm getting better, or a small bit of both. Thanks to this, I've felt a bit more confident in tackling the Platformer genre and when we received access to try the Demo, we were definitely excited.
If you haven't heard of Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara yet, it's a highly anticipated game with its Kickstarter hitting nearly 1000% of its goal during the campaign. That's absolutely massive, so let that stand for how many people are interested in this upcoming beauty, and for how impressive it is.
To give you an idea of the premise of Koa, it's about a young girl who's basically island hopping in the hopes to find pirate treasure. It's clever and it's cute, yet the gameplay had me so enchanted that it didn't feel young. In fact, it felt incredibly similar to playing Super Mario 3D World only it was beautifully repainted and improved upon. I already know this is going to be a speed runners dream game, yet caters to those who love taking their time and finding everything too. It's mad genius.
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A Colorfully Fun Pirate Experience...
During the Demo, we got to experience what the first Island in Koa & the Five Pirates of Mara is like, be introduced to some of the quirky characters, and play a few of the levels Koa will offer. As always in a Demo, we don't get a deep look into the story, but we at least get a glimpse through a couple of silly cutscenes and the NPCs all over the island.
I was honestly excited about the NPCs we got to meet on the first island as each one had so much personality it was refreshing. The islands act as little interim areas in between the actual levels and I was pleasantly surprised at how much detail was put into the one we got to experience. Level-based games tend to leave much to be desired when you aren't playing the actual runs and it ends up breaking the immersion pretty heavily. Now, immersion is sort of a hard topic in terms of level-based games anyways just due to their nature, but Koa does a brilliant job of tying the levels and home area in nicely and it feels great when you play.
We don't get too much detail about the story yet but a few of the NPCs have been hinting that we'll be Naruto running all over a multitude of islands. Most of your interactions with the people on the island include a teaser text when you first talk to them about what they might be up to or doing, then state, "Come back in the full release, I'm prepping things for you!" It's clever and a wonderful way to put a placeholder in. It's clear that this Demo is aimed at giving you a taste of how wonderful it is and will dive deeper into story aspects during its full release. That, ironically, makes me quite happy. I don't mind if a game lays the story out cleanly within a 1-2 hour Demo to give you an idea of it, but I actually like having that part be more of a mystery and getting a solid look at the mechanics of the game instead.
In theory, the story is important, yes, but you want to ensure your game has a sturdy foundation before worrying about all the sugar and spice that goes on top of it. If the game is boring to play, a great story won't save it, so I appreciate the team behind Koa putting great thought into making a Demo that felt like it was designed to be a Demo and not just taking a slice of the game and slapping it up on Steam. It made me more excited for the full release because my brain could physically see a little character telling me there's more in store and it hyped me up, so once again props to their team for the creativity.
Talking more about the Gameplay, I want to touch on the levels first, then branch into all the fun little side things to do on the Islands.
Koa's level system works as most games in the genre, opting in on using a level selector system. This system is nested in a little Lighthouse on the island that displays all the levels available (and not) to you. There are of course going to be a lot more islands in the full release so I assume the level selection spot will move depending on the island, but again, that's an assumption so we'll see what happens.
The levels themselves were delightful! From a tropical farm where we dashed up trees and rolled through crop fields, to a pirate bay with cannons firing at us while we ran up the docks, they were all so colorful, fun, and different that it really sparked a love for the game. I adored playing Super Mario 3D World due to how random and spontaneous their maps were and Koa is doing a brilliant job keeping the feel of that while throwing their own unique twist into it all.
If you're a collector, you'll rejoice at the fact that there are hidden treasures in every level and each came with a corresponding quest - given to you by the characters scattered around - that asks you to collect a certain amount of items from the levels. It gave my 100-%er brain great joy to know that I now had a purpose to try and find everything other than a random sticker added to a brag board.
Speedrunners... don't worry... they didn't forget about you either. Nope, quite the opposite. One of my favorite moments in Koa was chaining my jump-rolls together perfectly to create an endless motion of jumping and rolling and it had me laughing hysterically while doing it. Me being ... not a speedrunner ... ended up launching myself off of buildings and falling into the ocean due to lack of good control, but that was my fault, not Koa's. I actually felt as though their controls were quite consistent and forgiving, and that doesn't mean easy, just not impossibly hard the way some have been for me lately.
After you've finished achieving the fastest run or 100%-ing all the levels, you'll be happy to know there's still more to do around the islands. From mini-games given to you by the island occupants, to picking up every piece of trash in exchange for some coins, and if the NPCs on the island that tease you are any implication, there's much more coming in the full release. I know we said it earlier, but Koa & the Five Pirates of Mara is absolutely bursting with potential and I think it'll be an adored one, especially in the speed-running community.
From the movement that perfectly caters to those who want high-speed precision-based runs, to the creativity and beauty that goes into creating every level, to the story and characters who keep you entertained on the islands, Koa is daring to force its way into this genre with the biggest Cannonball splash you've ever seen. We always try to reserve praise lightly as we want to avoid hyping people up over a game, but this one we're excited for. You can look forward to more content in the future about the game's full release and while it doesn't have a release date yet, you bet we'll let you know when it does.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that we have not been paid or promoted for this review, and are not affiliated with Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara or its developers officially in any way. All thoughts are based on our own genuine experience of the game. All footage is based on the Game's Demo in its current state as of 06/09/2023 and is subject to change or be completely omitted in the full release at the developer's discretion.
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