Games I Beat: Kamiko

Kamiko
Action Puzzle
1 Player
System: Switch
Developer: Skipmore
Year of Release: 2017
Beaten: Oct 2nd, 2017

Kamiko is one of those random games I saw a recommendation for somewhere on the internet and decided to pick it up based solely on that, and the general aesthetic of the game. Developer Skipmore is probably most well known for Fairune, a duo of games that got decently good praise. The first one is, or was, available for free on phones, and I tried it out. Didn't really do anything for me, and didn't really put much time in it. It certainly looked very nice though.

Luckily, Kamiko had a bit more going on. The main premise of the game is simple, kill enemies and figure out rudimentary puzzles to activate four pillars around a level. Upon activating all of them the pathway to the boss will open and it's up to you to defeat them. At only four levels there isn't much content here, but there are three different characters to play through. At five dollars, even though it seemingly lacks content, it's still worth giving it a look.

The gorgeous 8-bit inspired graphical style is a pleasure to the eyes. The gameplay is exceedingly simple, with a button dedicated to attacking and interacting with the environment. Enemies are equally simple. Each one has a one-hit variety, and recolors with increasing amounts of HP. Most just wiggle about and try to slap you, while others do shoot projectiles, none of them truly pose any kind of threat if you're careful. Worse case you'll take a few hits, and cutting nearby grass will usually yield some health regenerating diamonds.

The three characters each have different play styles at least. Yamato uses a sword and by mashing the attack button it'll slightly propel her forward, allowing her to rush through groups. You can also hold attack to charge a spin attack that will drain a bit of energy, the only real resource aside from health in the game. Uzume is an archer, attacking forces her to stop moving, and she will shoot an arrow, followed by two and then three. Her charge attack shoots out a barrage of homing arrows. Finally Hinome is a mixture of the two. Her first attack sends out a powerful shield like Uzume, by continuing to attack she will use a short sword for a few attacks which propels her forward, like Yamato. After sending out her shield she can move around and alter the shield's return path, which adds a bit of depth to her character. Charging her attack causes the shield to spin around her, defeating pretty much everything on screen.

The bosses are also quite simple, but are more engaging than normal enemies requiring players to figure out rudimentary patterns to conquer. While Fairune was a pretty basic puzzle/adventure game with, I believe, no combat, Kamiko's main focus is on combat. Despite it's simplicity there is a charm to it. The lack of depth also makes traversing the areas a bit less annoying. Enemies never stop respawning, as you kill them you'll wrack up a combo and their deaths will drop more and more amounts of energy, which you'll require for special moves and certain actions.

The main types of puzzle found in the game are either block pushing puzzles, or carrying a key item to a pedestal or door. The former are very simple as the blocks are only pushable from one direction at a time. The latter can become quite annoying as you can no longer run, nor attack while carrying an item. You'll need to clear a path usually, which can be annoying as you might not know if the chest you're about to open will contain a key or not. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a way to slightly mitigate constant enemy respawning. Enemies respawn in groups, and by keeping at least one member alive in that group they will not respawn, which can be quite helpful when you must defenselessly transport something a decent distance away.

As I've already said, this game is well worth checking out. If not for the just the beautiful aesthetic alone. A fairly apt comparison one could make of this game is that it's an incredibly streamlined Zelda experience, the combat, puzzles and overall length of the game are all pared down to just about their basic essence alone. I only have two real points of criticism. The first being how simple the game is to play through, with only a few bits posing any real challenge, some of which was affected by annoying RNG. The other being no real reward for playing through the game three times, the ending doesn't change, and aside from a few secret items that unlock a sound test there's nothing more to the game than what you started with. A fourth character, or maybe even just a fifth level that unlocked after playing through as each shrine maiden would have been a really great surprise.