Get cozy, or go on an adventure | Aka - Review

Ever watched a slice-of-life anime and wished “I would love to be transported to that world and just live in peace”? Well, this brand new game titled Aka can allow you to virtually fulfill that wish. You can go on an adventure, explore the world, or maybe just settle peacefully and find inner peace.

The war is over, the fight is over. Our character, the red panda Aka, is a former participant of that war. He has been invited by a good friend over to his place — Pine Island — to start a new peaceful life. Upon arrival, Aka is welcomed by this friend Thom, who helps him gain his footing in this new island.

In Aka, you are free to explore everything right from the start, even the other islands surrounding Pine Island. There are no barriers or restricted areas. There is no overarching linear story that will push the gameplay forward. It’s up to you to find something to do.

Throughout the world, you will meet many characters — Anthropomorphic animals like the main character — many of them impacted by the recent war and might need your assistance via light puzzle elements and some fetching and questing.

There are also some mini-games that you can encounter with the characters and play. Such as this musical rhythm mini-game.

Despite Aka’s pro-peace advocacy, It's a low-key traumatic and softly depressing on the inside. With frequent references to the previous war, mentions of fighters not coming back, remembering lost friends, orphaned children, etc. It tells a valuable lesson on the horrible aftermath of war.

Aside from its exploration and anti-war elements, you are also free to farm in peace. Make a garden, craft some items, or just chill in the comfort of your home. It’s not too overly complex like many survival or farming sims out there, and that’s not a bad thing. Simple elements like having to use tools like axes and pickaxes, to farm materials, and use them to craft items. The controls are simplistic with basic movement and jump controls available, while interactions have a more of a point and click mechanism that will prompt you with what tool is available to use on that interaction.

Despite the beautiful art style, cute characters, and relaxing scenery, the UI and the controls are unfortunately barebones in contrast. You would even think that the current state was just a temporary placeholder and the developers weren’t just able to properly update it in time. In this regard, Aka feels like an early access game, when in fact it's not.

The relaxing peaceful soundtrack on the other hand is just too comforting it almost brings tears to my eyes, right from the start it just captivated me all too well. I could see myself listening to the music even way past my playthrough of this game. Aka wants to make me fall asleep, perhaps a little bit too well. And kind of I’m saying that as a compliment.

There is no dialogue, so expect a bit of light reading for the conversations. I would say it is a wasted opportunity. For a game that is as calming as this, I wouldn’t want to read anything more than a few words anymore, I just want my eyes to take a break from all the reading. Listening to voiced dialogue like some sort of a podcast or radio drama to relax, backdropped by the beautiful peaceful music would have been a nicer fit.

Explore, Farm, Chill. Aka is a heartwarming game that will make you wish you could play it with your eyes closed and just relax, maybe fall asleep and chill along with your character.