You groan, awakening in a quiet icy cave, the only sound the slow drip of snow melting from the suns direct rays. How did you even end up here? 
There was… a strange flying….was it a pig you were chasing? No, nooooooo- it couldn’t be. Pigs don’t fly, or have ears THAT big. What WAS real, however, was the VERY large, VERY angry boar who had chased you a good half mile, if not more- ultimately leading to your current situation after an "unfortunate misstep".
With a grunt, you pull yourself up. Looking around the cave, glimmering with ice and snow, the hole in the cave ceiling casting beautiful reflections all around- the mystery of how you came to be here vanishing from your mind. Shaking off your stiffness, you scramble to the mouth of the cave, your eyes adjusting at the blinding light outside, no longer obscured by the stone of the cave walls. You look out, over the icy snow-kissed pines, into the air, where a vast, distant floating island casts a gentle shadow on the land below. You inhale the crisp, cold air, a look of determination settling on your face. Your adventure is about to begin...

Summon ancient powers to unleash devastating attacks.

In what appears to be the latest game since their first title released in 2017, game publisher and developer BINGOBELL has brought us Kaku: Ancient Seal. A self proclaimed “Prehistoric Fantasy-Themed Open World ARPG”- the developers have really brought quite a few elements together for what promises to be a thrilling Ancient Fantasy Adventure. Playing as the young boy Kaku, you (along with your flying companion, Piggy) are tasked with restoring the balance within the Legendary Temple- and the land along with it. You will battle onslaughts of foes, solve puzzles, craft food and ammunition, as well as utilize otherworldly powers courtesy of pig-pal. An epic adventure with a beautiful sprawling map, an adorable companion, and plenty to do- Kaku: Ancient Seal shows heaps of promise. But ultimately, does it deliver?

The world map, complete with very non-descript locations. By far, the Misty Swamps are unnecessarily large in comparison to other locations. 

Unfortunately, out the gate, at it’s most fundamental level when it comes to a substantial story to carry the narrative of this adventure, the answer is a resounding NO. While it is unbelievably easy to get caught up and lost within the beautiful world that the developers at BINGOBELL have crafted, once the honeymoon phase wears off, the real gravity of the situation starts to sink in. Simply put, never have I seen a story attempt to be so fleshed out and verbose, all the while being painfully vague and disjointed. Lacking even the most core details, like who Kaku is, where he comes from, or why he was after Piggy to begin with, players really are not given much from a “character investment” standpoint. He could, quite literally, be called “Generic Prehistoric Child #1”- and I wouldn’t be all too bothered. Sadly, this is a theme that spans across much of Kaku: AS, providing lavish explanations of quintessentially nothing, leaving players to wonder, ultimately, why should they care? One would have hope that through the world building, character design, and musical score, there MUST be SOMETHING there to care about… right?

Beautiful world building and character design...sadly, that can't carry everything.

Thankfully, one of the absolute saving graces for this title IS it’s graphical design. Both in crafting some beautiful worlds, and making some absolutely stunning creatures- the developers have absolutely blown it out of the park. Kaku: AS boasts it’s own unique style, bringing cartoon-realism to the forefront, and adding a pinch of what looks like nearly cell-shaded VFX on top. It blends BEAUTIFULLY in this gorgeous and breathtaking world- from the lush overgrown ruins of the Floating Temple, to the almost tropical, amphibian infested waters of the Misty Swamp. There are so many beautiful things to see, and the attention to detail in the background is staggering. That isn’t to say that there aren't qualms to be had- mainly in the lack of point of interest. The maps feel beautiful, yet desolate and lonely all the same, with enemies generally maintaining set positions. You have LOTS of ground to cover- yet not much reason, nor reward, to do so. With how stunning the world building is, this came as a massive disappointment.

The breathtaking Floating Island. Sadly, you're not rewarded for exploring this gorgeous location.

One of the even larger disappointments, is with the enemy density. In place of things to do besides gather ingredients to craft elemental ammunition, or food for cooking, enemies are packed on the map in droves. While MANY of the designs are absolutely brilliant with some very obvious influence from titles like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot (but fashion forward and modernized)-the idle patterns are uninspired, and they are very obviously used in place of any real additional points of interest. Beyond resource gathering, banishing dark growths, and solving menial puzzles, players will find little else to do besides push the story forward and swing at anything that moves. Despite there being some collectibles, such as broken pieces of stele containing prophecy, there is very little reason to stray too far, as most treasure chests contain basic resources just as easily scavenged elsewhere. No matter your choice, however, you will absolutely have battles to fight. Pleasantly, most of the enemies, even basic ones, have multiple attack sets, and nearly all boss fights have “behavioral stages” once their HP bar has been depleted enough. Along with a health bar, most foes also posses a “Poise” meter. Heavy attacks will diminish this, and upon depletion, the enemy will stagger. While this is a crucial move for crowd control, it can also be an easy mechanic to cheese most fights with. Ultimately, the creativity of the enemy design and animations still does very little to detract from the missing substance within the game and story themselves.

Beautifully rendered enemies. While most are re-skins, each biome has at least a few of it's own selection of unique monsters.

When it comes to the sound department, however, Kaku: AS doesn't disappoint. Again, drawing on some classic platformer inspiration, the musical composition will sound new and still vaguely familiar to some. Sound design is done well, helping create weight to movements and variance to surfaces. At this time, there is no English dub of the game. The menus are in English, and the characters so speak-however, it is portrayed entirely through subtitles. Some of the translations are surprisingly amusing, slipping some more adult language into what really appears to be a game that would likely resonate more with younger children. Overall, sound design and execution is one of the few things in Kaku that I had nearly little to no qualm about. Well done and cleverly crafted, it absolutely meets the bar when it comes to a AAA experience standard- even in lacking an English dub.

Kaku: AS boasts a sleek UI for equipment management.

As far as things like controls are concerned, you are free to roam the four Lands with ease- easily being par with other AAA titles on the market. Movement is fluid, and you are given the ability to double jump out the gate, though at times it can feel a little stiff. There are a few minor qualms like Kaku lacking the ability to swim, often resulting in an instant death if the water is too deep. While Piggy offers the solution to this “issue”- as they can let you run on water via a magical bubble for a short duration, I largely view this as offering a solution to a pre-manufactured problem. At this point, I find the mechanic of characters being unable to swim somewhat dated- and while it may simply be what the developers considered a fun quasi-puzzle mechanic, it ends up more irritating than not. There are a few mechanics like this, mostly involving some of Piggys less-useful abilities, like using a disguise. Despite some of the shortcomings, overall, the controls are well put together, and menus are clean, and easy to understand. Upgrading skills and abilities is straightforward, if not somewhat tedious as it revolves around resource acquisition. Though, despite a wide range of additional combos and ability upgrades, combat still feels much of the same, very uninspired and repetitive.

The Ancient Guardian is the first TRUE boss you'll come across in your adventure. Most attacks show an AOE- be sure to be well out of the way.

Overall, Kaku: Ancient Seal is a beautifully designed game, boasting beautiful locations brought to life by gorgeous design, and filled with wonderful and quirky enemies that harken back to classic ARPG experiences. The music brings a wonderful sense of atmosphere and depth to the world around you, making it easy to get lost in the gorgeous Four Lands you’ll set out to explore. Despite all this, a lack of cohesive narrative in story, and feelings of uninspired and tired combat weigh down game play. The breath taking world around you is absolutely sprawling, yet filled with little to do except hunt for menial “rewards”, and thrashing an over-population of quick spawning enemies with tired attack patterns, and set “boundaries”. At the current asking price of $24.99 USD, you can’t really go wrong (especially if you happen to catch this title on sale)- just temper your expectations. Younger players may find this an easy world to get lost in, while more seasoned players could find the game play loop dull after a few menial hours. At the end of the day, BINGOBELL has a gorgeous foundation for what I sincerely believe COULD be one of the best platformers to come out in recent years, but it may have been pulled from the oven a bit too soon.

Kaku: Ancient Seal is currently available for PC on Steam. Xbox and PlayStation release dates are TBD.