These are charming homages and satires of real art in their own right, but you can also trade them into a gallery for awards like additional costumes. For people that do want to eke out a bit more from the experience, there are treasure chests hidden in dungeons (some quite well) which reward you with bits of art. ![]() Avoiding damage is often a case of solving simple puzzles (for example, hiding under a boat’s roof so ranged ghosts can’t hit you), and while these puzzles are ludicrously simple, they’re nonetheless engaging, preventing you from getting stuck in a part of the dungeon for too long, and make the game ideal for kids to play too. There are enemies (ghosts), but you need to run away from them rather than fight them. The catch is that Giraffe and Annika is also completely non-violent. The dungeons are loosely based on the Zelda formula – not so much that you need to find new items to navigate through them, but a steady stream of puzzles and pseudo-platforming will bring a comforting level of familiarity for anyone that has played a Zelda game. The rest of Giraffe and Annika – the real heart & soul of the experience – is toffee-sweet with sprinkles on top. I deeply dislike most open-world experiences. I didn’t come to Giraffe and Annika looking for an intricate open-world game, and I wouldn’t want that in the first place. A big part of the reward system seems to be in the granting of achievements, but that’s a feature pulled in from Steam and those pop-ups mean nothing whatsoever on the Switch.īut that’s enough of the bellyaching. Parts of this hub world are also locked off by literal colour-coded doors – an inelegant and arbitrary way to funnel players through the experience, and while there are some little side distractions along the way, they’re infrequent and the rewards are hardly worth the energy. You’ve got to find five little rabbits, for example, but if you don’t manage to before the evening ticks around (there’s a day-night cycle which spins incredibly quickly), then all the bunnies go home anyway and you have to start the next day tracking them all down again (why, again, does the mother need help finding those bunnies when they’re clearly not lost)? They are – nakedly – fetch quests, and not particularly well-designed ones at that. These little objectives take place in the main “hub” world, and they are the weakest element in Giraffe and Annika. A struggling sculptor wants photos of statues from the Gods to help him find his inspiration. A mother rabbit needs help tracking down her kids. There are three of these stones, all told, and with nothing else to do in this fantastic purgatory, Annika readily signs up.įirst, though, she’ll need to complete little objectives to convince the local residents to help her on her way. One of those people is a fellow named Giraffe, who begs Annika to help him in delving into spoooooooky, dangerous dungeons (which he can’t access for mysterious reasons) and recovering elemental stones. Luckily it’s not a nightmare, though, because it’s certainly colourful and full of eccentric people. What it is, however, is blissfully sweet and good-natured, and we need those kinds of experiences too.Īnnika is a young cat girl, who wakes up in an Alice in Wonderland-esque world that she doesn’t recognise, and with no memories to boot. It doesn’t do anything particularly eye-opening with its design and gameplay, and it’s not a substantial contribution to any particular kind of discourse. Each of these areas feature beautiful music that you won’t mind hearing over and over again.In the grand scheme of things, you’re not going to remember Giraffe and Annika. In the wind dungeon (which is probably the hardest stage) the wind pushes around while you’re trying to navigate the tight walkways. ![]() Contrast that with the water dungeon, where there are many small islands you can reach by jumping between boats (or by swimming). For example, the fire dungeon features a mine cart turret section, where you need to clear the path of boulders while your mine cart speeds along its track. ![]() ![]() Each dungeon’s additional features are introduced, such as new enemy types and set pieces for you to have fun with. None of them ever repeat, making them all feel unique (even if you’ve done similar quests in other games such as photography challenges, fetch quests and message delivery). After clearing each dungeon, you are provided with a little glimpse into Annika’s memories to spur you forward to seek out the next dungeon. Between dungeons, you also take part in several side quests.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |