KAKU: Ancient Seal by developer and publisher BINGOBELL—PlayStation 5 review written by Jim with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes.
As a fan of all RPGs, I was naturally drawn to KAKU, an action RPG that promised an engaging experience. After watching a few trailers, I was intrigued enough to give it a try when the opportunity to review it arose.
KAKU is the story of a young boy named Kaku who will become a hero and save the world... so the story really isn't KAKU's strong point, and for an RPG, this is one of its flaws. The game starts with Kaku chasing a flying pigglet, and then he runs into an old man, and it goes from there. Honestly, it was very forgettable. It never explains why Kaku was chasing the pig, who ends up joining him on his adventures, and that the pig's name is Piggy (how original). During the cutscenes, I ran into a problem where the game wasn't voiced, even though one of the trailers had voice-over. A lot of the time, the text goes by too fast, and you're also trying to watch the scene at the same time. Another issue is when you're trying to fight and read at the same time while someone is talking during gameplay. It just doesn't work, and the trailer should never have had voice acting if the game itself has none. I am okay with there being no voice acting if done right, but it just feels wrong in this type of game. The characters do grunt and make noises at times, and I swear some of them even say their own names at times while making these noises. At times, the game tried to be funny, but to me it never hit the mark, and there were some bad translations, too, where I had to reread things to understand what it meant.
Gameplay started out fun, but quickly became repetitive as you only have two kinds of attacks, a standard weapon, and an 'armblade'. The armblade is used to lower the enemy's poise bar, and once it's empty, you hit them with regular attacks to do more damage. You will also unlock special moves by spending a type of currency in an upgrade tree. I had just about everything unlocked before I was even half done with the game, though. You also get a slingshot for ranged attacks with unlimited ammo for the standard pellets, but you'll have to craft three different kinds of pellets. One that is fire and can set enemies on fire or burn away certain obstacles, a lightning one that can paralyze enemies, and a poison one that poisons enemies.
You can shoot the items you need for crafting to collect them, so this comes in handy except when you try to shoot something you see, but it won't hit because the game thinks it's too far away. If I can see it, I should be able to shoot it. This seems like a limitation you would run into on a PS2 game, not a PS5 game. You will also be able to craft healing items for stamina and health, along with one that makes your defense better for a short time and one that makes attacks do more damage for a short time. Shortly after starting the game, you will be able to use the awakening skill, which lets you become stronger for a short period of time. You fill this bar and your bar for special moves by attacking enemies. In-game statistics are shown by a bar for health and stamina that you use by running and using some attacks, a bar for your special moves, and a bar for awakening. It's a lot, if you ask me.
One of the enemy types in the game is called Ponpon. They are a bit like cavemen (but I don't understand why) if they are your enemy that they give you side quests. These side quests, while not numerous, provide a break from the main story and offer additional challenges. However, they don't significantly contribute to the main narrative, which is disappointing.
Piggy plays a significant role in the game. He can enable you to walk on water for a short time, disguise you as a Ponpon for a short time so you can sneak into Ponpon camps, assist with far jumps (although it takes a few seconds to do so), and teleport you to an area where you can buy upgrades for crafting, slingshot pellets, boost a few stats, and purchase new skills. In this area, you can use keys you find in the world to unlock trials. There are trials for each element in the game: wind, fire, water, and earth. There are combat trials, but most are puzzle trials. The puzzles in the game provided just the right amount of challenge—sometimes I had to try a few times, but I could always pass them after a while.
What I really like about the game is the four different lands you can go to. Each one is an element and an open world, so that you can go almost anywhere from the start. There are a few places you won't be able to go right away, but it isn't much, and each map is a decent size. It is fun to explore new areas, looking for chests, finding keys, and other such hidden goodies. But the in-game map is a pain to use and could have used a little work. Another nice touch the game has is that you can find different weapons and armor. Each one looks different and can act differently, like the weapon I liked has a chance of poisoning enemies. You can also attach runes to them to add perks like more health and stamina, among other things.
You can find new armor and weapons on each map. You can also collect things called "trophies"??? from bosses that can be traded in to the old man from the start of the game for a new piece of armor. The problem with this is that to get the full effect of the boss's armor, you need two pieces of it, and you will have to beat the boss over and over again until you get the second piece.
Each map also introduces a new side character, but they don't do much and are just added for the story. Even when they say they will fight beside you, they won't. One downside is that there is a lack of enemy variety: each land will have two or three unique enemies, but others will be just the same ones you see in every land, like boars, for example, which seem to be in every land.
Because I leveled almost everything to max so early in the game, it made it easy to beat regular enemies. Still, the boss fights are fun and can be challenging, like the puzzles — they are just the right difficulty on normal difficulty. I had to refight a few of them more than once, but I would get it after a few tries.
Graphically, the game looks pretty good, with some lovely scenery. Even though the game goes for a cartoony look, some areas are beautiful. Music gets the job done, but it's nothing memorable. Sound can be annoying at times, and during some cutscenes, the audio and visuals don't match. I also ran into issues with trophies not activating even after I did what I needed to get them. One was to beat one of the bosses for the first time, but I only got it after I beat it a second time. Another was to meet one of the side characters, but when I did it didn't unlock, so I won't be able to get that trophy unless I restart the game.
Another issue I have is when exiting the pause menu, it takes a good few seconds, and this only happened after I beat one land. I don't know what made it start doing that, but it shouldn't be that slow. And then there is teleporting and changing areas; there are just a few too many loading screens for a game like this. I have seen other games do bigger maps with no loading. Lastly, I was surprised to see some minor swearing in the game. It's nothing too bad, but when you look at the game, it makes you think it's a kids' game. There are also moments when you see a frozen Ponpon that it says froze to death, and a giant worm monster eats a few of them alive. Nothing too graphic, but it should be known to parents of younger kids.
Overall, KAKU is an all-around average game. It's nothing grand, but it isn't the worst game I have ever played. It's playable, but could use a few more quality-of-life improvements. It feels BINGOBELL rushed it out for the holidays. Still, when it's releasing alongside some huge titles, it could have been delayed, using that time to fix the issues it had, and released early next year.
Score: 5.5 / 10
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