Aka

Aka is a cutesy game that is made for audiences that enjoy being placed in a calm and relaxing world. This game isn’t all looks though, it actually has some interesting ideas that make it an intriguing title worth checking out for any type of gamer.

Story

Aka follows the story of a red panda who is in search of inner peace after a tragic and great war. He’s pretty lonely, so it’s nice that you’ll get to be the user controlling him. In your adventure, you’ll get to learn more about the ex-warrior red panda and how he became this way. You’ll be enjoying this adventure across a set of small hand-crafted islands around you. Aka is pretty similar in art style to Animal Crossing: New Horizons and even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Exploration

There’s a lot of cool and cutesy stuff to see and do around the world of Aka. For example, you can nap on top of a giant capybara, recovering your energy and getting a nice rest on top of a potato-shaped big boy. Nothing trumps this, so Aka could quickly grow to become your favorite video game.

Aka also has some pretty enjoyable gameplay elements such as the farming system. How it works is that you’ll need to gather the seeds, organize the planting, and then take care of the plants. To make this process faster and easier, you’ll need to craft tools, make or find food, and get shelter to protect yourself from the harsh weather. As you get more attuned to the mechanics in Aka, there’s a general feeling of pride and accomplishment you’ll get. Other than farming and managing your resources, Aka also allows you to take a bike ride around an island and explore the environment. The animations and movement mechanics for the bike rides are satisfying to watch.

When exploring the world, you’ll get to feed baby dragons and have a generally good time. Here are a few fun things worth doing:

• You can also take a dip in the hot springs to quickly get the jitters off you.
• Watching the sky is another fun pastime to engage in as there are colorful blue skies on good days in Aka.
• Enjoying that view is something that is enjoyable for a red panda, human, tree or bug. Any creature loves a nice view, don’t they?

A looming threat?

As you try to find inner peace in the world of Aka, you’ll need to deal with occasional reminders of our main character’s past. As an ex-warrior, he has his demons, and from the look of things, they might come back to remind him of his past. Still though, we know you’d rather just take a nap as a cute red panda than confront your inner demons. Honestly, same. Aka offers full controller support, so players that are looking to enjoy the game from the comfort of their couch will no doubt be satisfied doing that in Aka.

Pros

• Great atmosphere
• Cute graphics

Cons

• No clear identity