Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Yaga
Developer: Breadcrumbs Interactive
Publisher: Versus Evil
Genre: Action, Adventure, RPG
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: 12 November 2019
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $24.99
Also Available On: Epic, PS4, Steam, XB1
Yaga is a self-described “role-playing folktale” about a one-armed blacksmith set in a Slavic folklore that deals about fate, making choices, and overcoming odds despite overwhelming barrage of bad luck. The games looks really good with its unique water color aesthetic that also resembles the one found on flash games from the early 2000s. The character design is really good, although the animation could be better (the game designers choose to just flip the image of characters when they turn left or right, making Ivan’s severed arm hilariously grow back depending on the direction he is facing, but it’s no biggie). And whatever shortcomings the visuals have are more than filled in by the amazing soundtrack. The music in this game is mostly comprised of electronic and hip-hop beats that don’t necessarily make you think about Slavic folklore when you hear them but somehow, they wonderfully work in the game. Hearing these pounding tunes while in battle is quite an experience.
So it does look good and sound even better, but how does it play?
In this game you play as Ivan, the aforementioned blacksmith, who, very early in the game, lost an arm to a witch that he encountered in the forest. He was then banished from his land because of the bad luck he brings, but the same Tzar of the land who banished him tasked him to go through impossibly difficult task for him to be able to come back. All the while that this is happening, the titular witch, Baba Yaga, has been watching over him, guiding Ivan in his quests.
The game has some interestingly unique mechanics that make itself standout from the crowd. First and foremost is its luck mechanics. In the game, you can be bestowed blessings by priests or some other magical beings or even the gods themselves that grant Ivan some buffs to help him in his adventures. Ironically, when you are blessed, you gain bad luck in return. Using/consuming magical items, such as bread, wine, or five-leaf clovers also make you gain bad luck. When your bad luck meter gets filled, Likho, the witch that cut your arm at the start of the game who also cursed you, appears and breaks your weapon, tools, or both. This is sort of a big deal, especially at the opening hours of the game, but more of an annoyance near the end. Losing your weapon in the middle of a battle where you fight monsters will make you very vulnerable, which could then lead to your unexpected demise.
Luckily, Ivan being a blacksmith after all, can craft various weapons and tools. In the game, you can make your hammer more powerful when you craft it with different ores and additional crafting materials that give it additional power-ups such as more hitting power, making enemies bleed or poisoned, and so on. You also acquire additional tools such as wooden wheel as a shield, a spade, a pitchfork that resemble the hookshot from the Zelda series, a scythe, and even a bear claw that you can also craft to make powerful versions of them. These tools fit onto the stump of his limb where an arm once was. Defending on your play style or what your current mission requires, you can use these tools interchangeably. Using your tools in battle consumes stamina, and thus you cannot spam your enemies with them (your hammer does not). Getting hit decreases your will power (aka HP) and when your will power goes to zero, Baba Yaga and the other witches that watch your every move may let you either get revived once or let you summon a powerful enemy-turned-ally (if you choose to spare their life in battle) or let you take loss and rest but with the consequence of your hammer/tools getting broken.
The game is divided into different missions and side missions. Side missions let you accumulate new tools and special items by fulfilling the needs of different NPCs like burying the dead or finding a lost cow. While you Interacting with these NPCs, the game gives you a few choices on how you deal with them and you choose depending on how you want to act like in a game. You can be angry or selfish or righteous or even foolish. As you progress into the game, certain choices that do not match with your current trait will make you raise your bad luck, but one positive consequence of this is your experience raise faster the higher your bad luck is. When your experience gauge gets filled, you learn or acquire new ability, such as gaining will power while striking enemies with your bear claw, accumulating more gold coins, and so on. But again, too much bad luck will cost you your gears, so you have to make certain choices matter without having to gain more bad luck.
The main missions let you progress further into the game, and they usually require special items which in turn make side missions necessary to be played. You usually have to battle a boss at the end of main missions, and you have the choice of either sparing their life or killing them. Sparing their lives will give you a unique magical item that lets you summon them in battle (you can do this mid-battle, you don’t have to die first as mentioned earlier). Once this item is consumed, they are gone for good, unless you happen to kill another enemy that drops them (a rare occurrence). However, you have the option to multiply magical items if you visit certain NPCs that can do this, in exchange of body parts. These body parts are dropped by some enemies that you slay in battle. If you want to stock up on magical items, you have to kill more.
Speaking of killing enemies, the combat system in this game is quite good. In the field, you just whack them with your hammer and whatever tool that you have equipped. Of course, the enemies themselves also hit back, and some of them hit back hard, with a few of them even attacking from a long distance. These enemies include human bandits, goblins, ghosts, etc. Even some animals such as tigers and bears and bees join the fray. By the way, you can throw your hammer at enemies like a boomerang, hitting multiple ones in one go if you aim well enough, which make it a bit easier if you are the type that wants to do their killing from a distance as well. You can consume a magical item that you have equipped with a press of a button mid-battle if your will power or stamina run low or if you want to cast spells on enemies and whatnot, but again, these items raise your bad luck, so be cautious. You can dodge roll to quickly escape when the enemies come closing in, so make sure you do this to avoid getting hit.
Overall, Yaga is a good game, with quite a few tricks up its sleeves to really hook you in. It does suffer from a few yet very noticeable frame rate drops and the game even crashed at least twice, but I think they can be fixed by future patches, so they are not really much of a hassle. If you like action adventure games, give this game a try. It gives you a good bang for your buck. So keep your luck high and get ready for an awesome adventure full of twists and turns you will not forget very easily.
REPLAY VALUE: High
PROS
- Awesome water color art style
- Superb soundtrack
- Very good use of HD Rumble
- Top-notch voice acting
- Very good story and narrative style
- NPCs are full of character, amplified by the voice acting
- Levels are slightly procedurally-generated each time you play them
CONS
- Long loading times between levels
- Level map cannot be viewed as a whole (i.e., you can only rely on the mini-map)
- The dodge roll and various actions are mapped to the same button
- Very noticeable and frequent frame rate drops
- The game crashed multiple times at different points in the game
- The bad luck mechanic needs polishing as it is more of an annoyance that disrupts the flow of the game more than a way to keep you in check, because you only level up at the end of a level
RATING: 3.5/5 witch shrieks and hammer throws
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