Published by EastAsiaSoft and ticketed at $20, Book of Korvald is a meaty 2D side-scrolling action adventure. If you can look beyond the low budget marionette visuals and shoddy hit detection, there is an impressive quest here.
With his village destroy and family killed, Korvald is a journalist who is brutally tortured. Blinded and on the brink of death, he joins forces with a creepy floating eye monster and is given new strength and sight. Once the lengthy opening removes the training wheels, the player is presented with Metroid-ish gameplay. There is a large, interconnected map to explore, abilities to upgrade, items to find, and tons of enemies to slay. There are even a bunch of mini games to enjoy once you get a little further into the quest.
Along the way, Korvald can join forces with NPCs by, umm, forcefully being intimate with them. This is definitely a weird and uncomfortable mechanic but oddly, most NPCs are totally okay with it. I guess this form of agreement is more memorable than identifying a common enemy to join forces.
Visually, the game might look appealing from screenshots but the generic Flash-like animations reek of low budget. Having everything move like stringed marionettes is unappealing and I personally find it unsettling. This off-putting visual style is very distracting and doesn’t do the game any favors. This loose presentation also bleeds directly into the gameplay as platforming is not precise and combat is shoddy at best. It is frustrating when your whip’s attack passes right through enemies or you slip off that ledge. Playing this constantly reminded me of Castle of Heart as the flighty controls, loose platforming, and inconsistent hit detection is never satisfying, responsive, or fulfilling.
Like most Metroid-likes, the player will eventually gain new abilities that grant passage to venture further into the large map. These new abilities also make way for new enemies and even more boss fights. In fact, there are tons of boss fights, many abilities to upgrade, and lots of items to find. The Book of Korvald is a huge game that easily justifies $20 worth of content, but again, ughhh, the visuals!
If this game only had a more appealing coat of paint, it would be easy to recommend. Personally, I gave it my best shot, and I fully acknowledge there is good deal of game here, but I simply cannot get over the jerky Flash-like visuals. I find them to be so unappealing that it makes me not want to play this game. Which is a huge shame because there is a lot here to unpack, from the large map to the dark narrative, but it is hard to enjoy a multiple hour quest when the presentation is so blah.
SCORE: 4/10
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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