Re:Play - Episode 1 - Kunai

Geek Culture Reviews Re:Play - Episode #1: Kunai

For this episode of Re:Play I decided to revisit Kunai - a Metroidvania, action-shooter, that's developed by TurtleBlaze...

Kunai‘s story is a simple one. Humanity stands on the brink of collapse due to its machine creations becoming self-aware and has decided that Humanity is the main threat to its existence (que the Terminator theme). The survivors of this apocalypse have begun to fight back and a few of the sentient machines have joined their aid. One such machine called “Tabby”, an emote-wearing-ninja-tablet is that stands in the way of the machines total victory. 

Yes, Kunai is The Terminator, Metroid, Castlevania and a Smart Phone, all thrown into a blender. The protagonist of this world is Tabby who is a tablet computer that knows ninjitsu and it is it’s a quest to stop the A.I. uprising and save what’s left of Humanity. Kunai's world is made up of different regions that feature many CRT-headed enemies to hack and slash at. As well as many different pathways to explore, which expand with your toolset to open up new avenues to explore as you proceed through the story. Kunai features platforming/exploration elements from the same vein as Castlevania and Metroid. Both traversal and combat are fluid and utilising both allow for a fast-moving combat style. 

Armed with only a sword, our first task is to meet up with the Resistance. The first area acts as a tutorial as we get to explore Tabby’s abilities and fight the cannon fodder enemies with relative ease. The sword does a decent amount of damage per swing and we get a pretty decent jump height as well. It’s not before too long we introduced to the grapple mechanic which allows up to hang from walls and to quickly climb up and down. These Kuni, when coupled with the combat allow you to pull off fluid moves that make you feel like a badass. The screen is rarely filled with enemies so you have plenty of room to practice combo moves whilst traversing the landscape. With the kunai, the ability comes options to now go back to previously explored places to yet further explore. The world is full of these blocked pathways that temp you to backtrack once you gain the means to access them, naturally, this is encouraged by the possibility of loot in the form of hats, health upgrades or another ability for our robot-ninja. 

The environment layout changes from screen to screen and each offers different ways to use your tools and abilities. Some screens have you climbing walls and leaping across platforms, whilst others encourage a more close-quarters affair. Each environment supplements this with its designs. The tightly confined spaces of the sewers have us creating havoc with our sword, whilst the decaying city above has us utilising our kunai to grapple and leap from platform to platform. The world map itself is free to explore and as mentioned before, each new ability opens more of the map up. 

Every ability doubles as a weapon and a navigation aid. Whilst the kunai allow us to grapple, we get a pair of machine guns that double up as a ranged weapon and give us the ability to float on the bullets if fired downwards. Each move set is easy to understand and once collected can be used straight away. Save points work similar to Metroid where we have to access a computer to do so. Doing this not only saves the game but also recharges our heroes health. Sadly, Kunai does not feature a fast travel system so navigating previously explored areas becomes a chore. This is more prominent in the later stages where you can finish an area to then have to backtrack through its now barren halls to the start for no reward.

The pain of backtracking is offset by the games gorgeous scenery shifts and great use of its limited colour palette. Each area is unique in design and has its style which seamlessly transitions between each other. The use of bright reds to highlight enemies and items of interest is also a positive and stands out from the shades of blue and grey that colour the landscape. 

I had fun with Kunai, its visual style that coupled with its free-form combat and platforming made the game difficult to put down. The level design works but was slightly let down by mediocre rewards and the lack of a fast travel option. Whilst these should not put you off playing the title it can be a chore in places. When the game gets the balance between its combat, platform and map traversal correct then you have a solid experience that is worthy of your time. Fans of both Metroid and Castlevania will appreciate Kunai's simplicity and sense of familiarity, yet below this is an often frustrating title that doesn't move from its comfort zone. 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev

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Kunai is available now and can be purchased via the Nintendo Switch eShop by clicking here.