Ravenlok analysis, visually incredible adventure, simple and full of references.

Launching on May 4, Ravenlok will hit the Gamepass service, bathing everything in its own unique color and art style.

cococucumber he did it again. From the creators of the amazing and acclaimed Echo Generation has released their fifth game. Meet Ravenlok, an adventure that also perfectly blends pixel and voxel art styles. For almost all of us, when we think of voxel-art, the reference that comes to mind is undoubtedly Minecraft. With this characteristic style, almost all of us started talking about Minecraft-style graphics. However, they were not the ones who invented this technique.

Familiar art styles

He voxels is like him pixel, another step taken by the video game industry in its quest for graphic excellence. The use of voxels, cubes with depth instead of flat pixels, began to be used many years ago when the graphics arms race began. The first game to use this technique was Comanche, a simulation game of helicopters of 1992 which gave us a graphic jump under the engine Voxel Space.

Some time later, precisely 17 years, in 2009 Softtronics Developed industries Infinite that inspired Minecraft. Softtronics He thought that instead of reducing the size of the voxels to improve the graphic quality, he could perhaps enlarge them. It would give your game a retro aesthetic, which was definitely a good idea. And yes, although Zachtronics ended up abandoning the development of Inifiniminer, its source code was released and it was used by Mojang in 2010 to create the first version of Minecraft. In 2023, cococucumber In Ravenclaw take over left by these pioneers and many others to offer us an adventure with the best of each house and which will surely impact us graphically.

The crow comes to save us

abandoning the times young woman and focusing on the moment we’re talking about Ravenclaw. The game is a third-person adventure that tells us about the experiences of a young woman who, after leaving town with her parents, settles in the old family farm. After landing for the first time in rural areas, we will learn to move around in the cultivate while we help our parents unpack the move.

The farm has a very nice house full of clocks, a rather enigmatic barn and of course an orchard where our father intends to fully immerse himself in country life. However, our protagonist is not quite sure how to adapt to the new life. As we run for errands, we’ll end up in the old barn. there is a mirror somewhat strange will transport us to a magical land ruled by a corrupt queen. The creatures that inhabit it will see in us the heroine of their legends, a girl with black hair like a raven (Crow), named Ravenlok who will free them from the Queen caterpillar.

visually delicious

Here begins our adventure in this title that one could call a hack and slash in the third person. We will go through closed and divided areas where we will have to find a way to kill the queen by completing missions. The main mission is to open the castle that will allow us to access the queen’s rooms, but first we will have to get our hands on the three keys that are scattered throughout the kingdom. This will lead us to meet an infinity of characters who drink from a thousand and one fables. We can sometimes imagine ourselves in an Alice in Wonderland tale, in an ode to Hayao Miyazagui and its thousand creations, or in a world steampunk full of macabre machines.

All this as we said under a style pixel-voxel-art which makes the game visually stunning. The colorful backgrounds, the varied enemies and the incredible areas, all different and very well created, are a clear example of Cococucumber’s excellent work. Additionally, the game moves to 60 fps stable that combine phenomenally with all of the above. All this is the main engine to continue playing and advancing in this adventure. And it is that at the level of gameplay All is not brilliant.

gameplay

Ravenlonk As we said, it is a hack and slash, although it contains very slight traces of RPG. To start, our character has a sword and a shield with which to perform three basic attacks. Block with the shield, normal and strong blow with the sword. As we progress through the story, we will unlock 4 more special attacks which, combined with the previous ones, will be used to kill the enemies we find. These attacks are a assaultthrowing halos that will damage the most distant enemies, chain attacks, etc… In addition, we will have the possibility of making use of potions healing and different bombs launch various elements (ice, fire, poison…). Ravenlonk also has collectibles to collect. These are shaped like rabbits and to get them we have to find them and then dance with them. We also have an arsenal of envelopes that will allow us to move forward in the history as costumes to achieve our goal..

Lots but little variety

Each area of ​​the game is determined by a chain of missions that we must complete to move on to the next one. It is true that the 3 ways to reach the 3 keys They don’t have a very clear order, but once you jump into one of crusades, it’s fairly linear and with fairly basic missions with little plot context. The story often crosses the line between a more childish game and a game for adults. It is true that the mechanics and gameplay are not designed for the little ones in the house, but the plot is so weak that sometimes it can seem to us that it is a children’s game. However, all missions have a senseAnd principle and a clear ending and its leading role on our path to queen It is well contextualized.

History for children, enemies for adults.

Although it is true that this childish argument is in the background when we come to the zone leaders. These are quite large and intimidating, although they do not present a great difficulty. With a minimum of learning We can kill them all quickly without even touching ourselves, but for that it will not be enough to press the buttons. The designs for these enemies are, like the entire game, outstanding. They keep the thread with the region where we are and the history we live. Its design conceptualin addition to the artistic they are awesome and as we said, beyond its sinister gameplaythe best section of Ravenlok.

CONCLUSION

Ravenlok may seem argumentative A title for the little ones of the house. Its somewhat elaborate story and without epic twists is quite flat. It can sometimes seem bland. However, the design of the areas, the creativity in the art, the mixture of references to many fables or well-known stories is, without a doubt, the engine that pushes us to move forward in this title. This, combined with the design of the final bosses and the voxel-art aspect so successful are the best of the title. It is true that the combat is simple, but it is an adventure that, more than action, will offer us endless contemplative moments thanks to its settings full of detail, color and dedication. Without a doubt, this is one of those games that you all have to try and it will surely fill your console with catch of marvelous screen.