Games I Beat: Legend of Kusakari

Legend of Kusakari
Lawn Mowing Sim
1 Player
System: 3DS Download
Developer: Librage
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: April 5th, 2017

Sometimes things happen that further convince me I'm actually just an insane person. Just, look up the trailer for this game and tell me if the main idea and especially the music would draw you in. Granted the art style is cute, simple and pleasant. But that music is just awful. I needed it.

Kusakari, as every single person surely knows, means grass cutting work in Japanese. As the title gives away, this is a game about cutting grass. As opposed to playing any kind of a hero, you're simply a man trying to clear out the path for actual warriors to make their battles against the various forces of evil easier. Often times, mid-battle.

The game has a look inspired by Zelda, and the play style is similar as well, though much more passive. Instead of an action adventure game Legend of the Kusakari presents players with more of a puzzle game, each level gives you a set amount of time to cut all the grass in the level. The time limit is implemented as your health running out, on top of any damage dealt by any obstacles you run into. Blue grass can be found around levels to replenish this, and sometimes it will be required to leave some and heal up later to accomplish a level. As usual the initial levels are cake walks, but eventually more obstacles and enemies are added. In some levels the game requires players to rush as quickly as they can, exploiting dashes to cut more than one piece of grass at a time.

The only real threats are the size and layout of the level in relation to the time left, enemies who wander in mostly predictable patterns and larger clumps of grass that take multiple swipes to cut down. There's the standard swipe, as alluded to earlier you can run and manage to cut multiple grass clumps at once, and you can even charge up and pull off a Zelda-esque spin attack. Remember, you can only attack grass though, never an enemy.

Really the major gripe I have is the really horrible music. It's meant to be a joke, but it doesn't make it any less awful. Some levels were frustrating, but none were undoable. Upon doing well enough players will unlock special plants, which don't really do anything they just act as proof that the level has been completed as well as it can be.

Overall, Legend of Kusakari is a pretty easy sell. It's silly, and the music is really gross, but it's a cute idea that's executed well. It is a fun puzzle-y take on the top down style Zelda games, the amount of levels feels about right and it's rather cheap to pick up. It is a perfect game to kill just a bit of time, or to sit down and play for a while. Certainly this is a niche game, but anyone reading this will probably have an idea as to whether it will appeal to them or not.