One of the best-looking indie games of the month is yet another Metroidvania, but one that promises plenty of new ideas of its own.
There are certain esoteric subjects which you cannot help but become aware of if you play enough video games. Norse mythology, Japanese gastronomy, and the kind of in-depth knowledge of guns and ammunition that would normally get you put on a watch list… all are topics which gaming makes you an expert on whether you want to be or not. Another one is the tools of a ninja’s trade, so we already knew what a kunai was. Just not why it was being used by an anthropomorphised tablet in a four-colour Metroidvania.
Like most ninja weaponry, kunai are adapted from everyday farming tools, in this case a trowel. In most games they’re portrayed as similar to throwing knives, although apparently they were usually stabbing weapons or used as a piton for climbing. The latter is how they’re used in Kunai, which quickly sets you up with a pair of them – a little like the twin clawshots in Zelda: Skyward Sword – and enables you to clamber around the game’s 2D world with gleeful ease.
Indie games are often held up as the most avant-garde and imaginative area of gaming but that’s only true to a degree; that degree being how much you manage to avoid the endless flood of Metroidvania games. Metroidvanias are 2D platformers influenced by Metroid and Castlevania, which emphasise exploration and the collection of unique weapons and equipment that allow you to access previously inaccessible areas. It’s a very familiar concept by now and while Kunai is certainly a competent example of its breed, at this point that’s not necessarily enough.
Most Metroidvanias tend to be closer to one or other progenitor and Kunai is definitely more Metroid than it is Castlevania, with some very obvious nods to the iconography of Nintendo’s series and a sci-fi backstory. Although the plot, about warring factions of AI, one of which wants to save the last of humankind, is more mundane, and certainly less funny, than it first seems. But for whatever reason all the robots have CRT monitors for heads and the last hope for the good guys is a plucky young tablet who’s… also a ninja?
If there’s some hidden meaning, or joke, to any of the story it passed us by, but it’s harmless enough and kept interesting by some nicely stylised visuals. Despite the purposefully limited colour palette the graphics reminded us of the bas-relief stylings of The Bitmap Brothers, and that’s one of the greatest compliments we can give any retro 2D art. The palette can seem a little plain at times but when extra colours are introduced, during boss battles and between each new sector of the map, the effect is really very impressive.
The combat also has an unusual rhythm of its own, as you’re encouraged to keep moving between enemies, using the kunai to swing across the screen or when that’s not possible to block with your sword. In true Metroidvania style you gradually get access to more weapons and these often prove to have multiple uses, including dual machineguns that work like a rocket jump, propelling you across gaps, and an actual proper rocket launcher.
There are some obvious failings too though, with the lack of any fast travel being a particularly unnecessary flaw. Backtracking in a Metroidvania is a key part of the formula but Kunai doesn’t do anything to either speed it up or vary the experience the second (or third time). Signposting in general is poor and although the game world is filled with hidden chests there’s usually no visual clue as to where they are. You can see them when you’re standing right next to them, but it’s almost impossible to find them through any kind of skill or logic.
That’s how it worked in the original Metroid too, but 34 years’ worth of game design provides plenty of other more compelling alternatives to just blind luck. Sometimes the game tries to inject some new ideas of its own, such as the occasional auto-scrolling section, but they don’t do enough to hide the fact that beneath the attractive visuals and weird story this is a very by-the-numbers Metroidvania.
Using the kunai is fun but they rarely need to be employed in any particularly clever way. The level design and combat doesn’t really encourage experimentation and it all begins to feel a little too gimmicky. There are some good ideas in Kunai, and the presentation is great, but the execution is disappointingly workmanlike.
Rather than an inspired, imaginative indie game, Kunai feels more like the tired corporate product it should have been providing an alterative to, as it half-heartedly tries to pretend that nice graphics and a few shallow gimmicks will stop you from realising that you’ve played the same sort of thing many times before.
Kunai review summary
In Short: A competent Metroidvania with some attractive visuals and fun gimmicks, but they can’t hide the fact that the game underneath is far less inspired than it first seems.
Pros: Great visuals, that offer a surprising amount of variety and surprises. The kunai and other dual-use weapons are all interesting and the combat is energetic and fun.
Cons: The gameplay and level design prove disappointingly mundane long before the end, as the kunai and weird plot quickly begin to feel like shallow gimmicks.
Score: 6/10
Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £15.29
Publisher: The Arcade Crew
Developer: TurtleBlaze
Release Date: 6th February 2020
Age Rating: 7
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