Koakuma

Overview

Koakuma is a stunning roguelike dungeon crawler that immerses players in a world filled with beautiful forests and deadly beasts. There are a variety of maps to explore including Shiopberry Forest, Berthiermagne Forest, Cauram Woods, and Conmeda Timberland, each with its own unique boss fight. The inventory menu allows players to customize their character's gear from head to toe, and the crafting function lets players level up their equipment to increase their stats.

Gameplay

The dungeons in Koakuma are procedurally generated, which meant that no two runs are the same, providing a lot of replayability, The character design is gorgeous and the world is immersive, making it easy to lose track of time while playing, The skills available to players are useful and feel fluid, with the option to level them up for even more efficiency.. On top of that, there are different rarities of loot to collect, including common, uncommon, and rare items.

The way the animations and the weapon's visual appearance changes once a higher rarity is equipped or a new skill is unlocked is one of the most unique game mechanics that instantly pulled me in while playing Koakuma. It might be seen as a tiny detail, but the beauty of gaming are these moments games make you go "oh can't believe they thought of that," and Koakuma actually has quite a bunch of these that make your overall experience a series of pleasant surprises, especially if you are into Hades and the roguelike dungeon crawlers in general.

Each piece of equipment affects the player's stats including strength intelligence, dexterity, attack toughness recovery, and vitality. Unfortunately, there are some downsides to the game. At times, there may be a lack of enemies to engage with leading to periods of boredom as the player walks around without encountering any mobs. Some enemies also have an unavoidable hitbox, with snakes being a particular problem.

It is also unclear besides leveling up items what the purpose of collecting the blood of the devil is. It is a relatively prominent issue within Koakuma as its lore is observantly trying to pull you in but failing to do so miserably. On the other hand, the boss fights in Koakuma are challenging and engaging, requiring players to be highly focused to emerge victorious. Some players may find them frustrating due to the high level of difficulty, but that is added to the fun of the game.

Review

Despite these issues, Koakuma is a challenging and enjoyable game with a lot of replay value. The scenery is vibrant and the graphics match the quality of the different lands players explore. Health potions are available to restore health when players fail to dodge enemy attacks which can be a problem for the user as the enemies are unforgiving and deal a lot of damage. Campfires are scattered throughout the map and it would be great to see them incorporated in a way to gain health through runs. All in all, Koakuma is a thrilling game with a lot of depth and variety that is sure to keep players coming back for more.