KOI Review | Documentary-Level Playing

Koi is a game that doesn’t tread much water and an experience that excels only in parts.

What’s the difference between a game and an experience? Oasis Games, in this first American-bound production to come out of China, mulls this question by their game’s mere existence. Other’s such as Little Inferno, Flower, and even The Walking Dead once upon a time faced this question, all of which came out the other side with both defenders and protractors. Koi doesn’t seem to break the same barriers these titles once did as possible conductors of spirit-infusing moments, but that doesn’t make its landscape completely barren of art.

You impact the world around you as a little fish, swimming in limited environments to bring life back to the stream. This is a small, simple loop of finding fish and bringing them to their matching flower while avoiding the polluted black fish. Most of the spaces also have stars and puzzle pieces, which reveal the history of the stream, to find, musical-based mini games, and a few neutral sources of informative wildlife.

koi

That’s about everything that Koi has to offer from a gameplay perspective, and while the mini games have their charm, none of it engages you. Even the possibility of free exploration feels taken away by an intermediate arrow that points directly towards another fish-and-flower pairing, making your time inside an already light game feel diminished. The environments, while animated and colored well enough, don’t even seem able to lose you with their drop-in-the-bucket size. The constant arrow is made to seem baffling by how often the fish is three inches worth of TV screen away from its flower. Guidance in such a small area on top of light gameplay actively makes your input feel meaningless between objectives when it should feel relaxing in some sense to cruise the waters.

The strongest area of Koi, as in a lot of these games, is the set atmosphere from the art style and music. Smooth running and sharp colors give you a sense of visual comfort whereas the music changes into the tone of the area, from peaceful basin to darkened bit of industry. Neither the style nor the execution break molds, but with so few games pushing you into this kind of peaceful avatar, there was a feeling of adequacy, in regards to the art present, permeating as the end wrapped.

koi

That is, less than an hour after starting. Koi is not a lengthy title, leaving a very standard story note as the final period before credits. You can replay for trophies, puzzle pieces, and skins for your fishy presence to wear, but this is an experience that was meant to leave an impact and leave, not be the replayable destination for years to come.

The limitless bar of potential that every game starts with seems to have been cut and divvied too many times for Koi to have an impact on an overall level. Aural and visual beauty does what it can, serving as the game’s only chance to leave a lasting impact on the player, while everything could’ve been brought to that level. There’s simply too many worries about the restraints on players and gameplay to make this a recommended artistic destination, and conversely so to make this a stop for gameplay. The music and visuals will stick with me well beyond the game itself, but Koi is more than just those parts and feels decidedly lesser for it.

Share this article:

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on tumblr
Tumblr
Share on email
Email
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp

Recent Posts

Marvel 1943 cover art. Captaint America and Black Panther Gaming News

Get a Closer Look at the New Black Panther and Captain America Game | Marvel 1943

It’s been a while since we first got word that the great Amy Hennig was working on a new Black Panther and Captain America game. After creating something like Uncharted, …

Mad Catz Strike 11 Keyboard. A keyboard with red and black keys Hardware & Tech

Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 11 Mechanical Keyboard Impressions

I have been on the search for a decently priced wireless keyboard and there is no shortage these days. Our friends over at Mad Catz sent over their S.T.R.I.K.E. 11 …

Hardware & Tech

Level Up Your Set Up with Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf has been one of the market leaders in the gaming lighting space for years now. They have a variety of products to level up not only your office space …

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Gaming News

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and What’s Next For Xbox | Let’s Chat

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the next big game set for release and the rumor mill has been set ablaze with talks of Xbox going multi-platform. We take a few …

Gaming News

The Pimax Crystal 8K VR Headset | CES 2024

AR and VR were some of the bigger topics during this year’s CES. Last year I was able to go hands-on with the Pimax Portal but this year it was …

CES

NVIDIA Announces 40 Series Super Cards and More at CES 2024

A year can’t go by without a huge announcement from NVIDIA. During CES 2024 in Las Vegas, NVIDIA announced an upgrade to its 40 series cards. The GeForce RTX 40 …