Koira Review

The bond you make with a pet can be life changing. It can shape your childhood, defend you from loneliness as an adult and turn the most ‘I don’t want it in my house’ Dad into a total softy. They can also play a valuable role in making you sprout uncontrollable baby gibberish when they play the cute game on screen, which is the exact scenario I found myself in during Koira, the debut title from Belgian based Studio Tolima. Safe to say I made a fool of myself on multiple occasions (no, I did not record it) as this suitably adorable platformer grabbed my attention immediately and never let go.

Described as a poetic narrative-driven game, Koira begins with a sombre, lonely tone but soon breaks out into a story of hope, led by a character that uses musical tones to communicate to a little puppy they befriend atop a snow-covered mountain. The journey that follows takes you down the mountain towards what appears to be home off in the distance, with a handful of obstacles and dangers awaiting you along the way.

Without any text to speak of, Koira (or who I believe is Koira, as the game never makes it clear) only uses said sweet musical notes and sound effects, likewise the other characters, your trusty pooch and almost everything else around you. It’s like a mini orchestra following you around, though it’s increasingly cute when you call out to your puppy pal after they run off into the distance, only to hear it toot repeatedly as it runs back. If all Koira wants from you is to make you love your fluffy critter friend, it achieves that and then some.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

The story itself tells a tale as old as time, a character lost and trying to find a way home, but it hardly plays out like a Disney movie. There’s danger further along the path, animal poachers and guard dogs willing to do whatever it takes to capture your companion and a family of warthogs you befriend. Though there are hints of a darker narrative at play, the majority of Koira is a suitable for all ages yarn of hope amongst fear, friendship that can pull you through difficult times, and not allowing anger to get the better of you. It does all this without the need to force it, perfectly framed by its lack of dialogue and magical environments.

Backgrounds are water painted with a soft colour palette, broken up by pitch black trees, white snow and the lead characters simplistic yet emotive shades of black and white (plus an added red nose for the pupper). Eyes grow wide in shock as something rustles the trees in the distance, or frown when tired or lonely, helping to heighten the moment-to-moment situations both characters find themselves in, backed by a musical score that equally compels you to feel various emotions just as they do. If you’re a softy like I am, there’s a number of situations that will pull at the heart strings, just as any good indie game should.

The journey down the mountain and through the magical wilderness won’t challenge you per se, though it does a good job of providing moments to explain mechanics that will play an important role later on. One early scene sees you playing hide and seek, fittingly cute of course, but that fleeting moment of fun tells you all you need to know to survive later encounters with the poachers. On occasion you’ll also get the chance to play fetch, perfectly explaining how to throw a stick which you can then use to knock apples off trees to feed your pup or set off traps before you accidentally run into them.

The pup will sing a duet of sorts when at a shrine

There’s also some puzzle solving, nothing too taxing, that cleverly plays with sound. You’ll come across ancient shrines that require certain music notes to unlock either an important item or a path ahead. Said notes can be found hidden away in nearby areas or solving said puzzles, and they never feel overwhelming or underdone. It’s the right kind of puzzle solving for a fun adventure, the kind where you’ll stop for just a moment to figure it out and smile when it quickly becomes apparent, avoiding the pitfalls of annoyance in the process. Sadly, however, there’s no mini-game mechanics in playing the musical notes back to the shrines, which feels like a missed opportunity. You’ll simply find the notes you need, stand in front of the shrine and press one button to watch your hero and the puppy sing a pleasant tune together, but I would have loved the chance to ‘sing’ with them instead. Even if it was as basic as an Ocarina of Time, four buttons at the right time kind of thing, a little more interaction would have been welcome.

Coming in at a few hours, Koira sits at the right kind of time required to completion. As I say often around here, I much prefer a game that doesn’t overstay its welcome, that focuses on its narrative and doesn’t bog itself down with needless side quests or distractions. Koira does have a few mini-games for lack of a better term, but they all serve a purpose (like the aforementioned hied-and-seek) that doesn’t interfere with the flow down the mountain to the next story beat. There are also a few moments that come out of the blue, clever spins on the narrative that suitably enforce the emotions at play.

The use of sound as a driving force of the narrative should also be commended. It’s clever without coming across as tacky or silly, and made me laugh on multiple occasions as the puppy fumbles across the snow. I wish more games took a chance with storytelling in similar ways, finding different means to express a tale without the need for endless dialogue boxes or cut scenes. It’s refreshing to me, and I hope I’m not the only one that feels that way.

Of course I built the snowmen. Why wouldn’t I?

Final Thoughts

Everything about Koira left me with a smile on my face, from its cute environmental storytelling to its thoughtful, emotive adventure. It’s such a beautiful journey, one that tells important lessons for those willing to find them but otherwise explores how important it can be to have someone by your side. I wanted to protect that dog at all costs, so every moment that came across when they were in danger drove me to find the right solution as quickly as possible. Way to make me feel for a 2D character, Studio Tolima.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

Click here for more information on WellPlayed’s review policy and ethics