By Nathan Grayson on September 25th, 2012 at 9:00 am.
When last we checked in on abstract, kind-of-Mysty walk ‘n’ gawk Kairo, it was supposed to be out before the end of the year. That year was 2011. It is now – according to my well-placed sources (I just moved my calendar; it looks incredible now) – no longer 2011. Fortunately, based on the demo I just played, it’s turning out to be quite an impressive piece of work, and the full game’s right around the corner. Specifically, it’s launching in October, but you can watch a new-ish trailer and try the demo right now. Heck, you could even do both at the same time if you really wanted. I’m not exactly sure why you would, but the option is available.
So, like I said, I enjoyed the demo a fair bit. It struck me as ethereal and often breathtaking, but without venturing into the realm of over-abstraction. On the whole, the puzzles I encountered eventually made sense – though I definitely had to bash my brain against a couple of them for a decent while. A pair did, however, require me to engage Kairo’s pause menu hint system, which outright gives you the solution on the third hint. I suppose I appreciate the (entirely optional) help, but that sort of thing should never feel like the only thing standing between me and a progress-halting wall. Thankfully, Kairo’s open structure also gave me the option of tackling another puzzle while waiting for a “eureka!” moment on one that had me stumped. So that was nice, at least.
By and large, though, puzzles seemed impressively intuitive in their own lateral-thinking-based way, and I appreciated the complete lack of hand-holding and tut-tutting. Exploration and thoughtful meditation were rewarded with sights and sounds that varied from awe-inspiring to downright frightening. I won’t spoil any for you, but here’s a hint: the television screens. Oh god, the television screens.
Kairo ventures into the wild on October 21. Pre-ordering now will get you into the beta – as is more and more frequently the way with these things. Obviously, though, I’d recommend giving the demo a go first. So go on, then. Do that.
25/09/2012 at 09:23 KeyboardGato says:
Come on grab your friends
25/09/2012 at 11:39 vivlo says:
we go to very distant lands
25/09/2012 at 11:58 starmatt says:
with Jake the dog and Finn the human
25/09/2012 at 13:04 Kaira- says:
The fun will never end
25/09/2012 at 15:54 pilouuuu says:
It’s adventure time!
25/09/2012 at 09:34 Gandhi says:
That bit, around 0:49 reminded me of the Halls of Echoing Repose in ‘Down in the Bonehoard’ level from Thief
25/09/2012 at 10:11 JackDandy says:
Oohh, that’s nice. I had my eyes on that one for a while now.
25/09/2012 at 10:27 Caiman says:
I always confuse this game with the other one where you’re wandering around an equally abstract (but more detailed) landscape solving musical problems, and in fact creating music. What’s that one called again? Still, Kairo looks interesting if they get the atmosphere right. Checking out demo now.
25/09/2012 at 10:40 The First Door says:
Are you thinking of Fract? This one: http://fractgame.com/
25/09/2012 at 11:12 Caiman says:
Yes, Fract looks awesome, thanks for reminding me. I’ve played enough of the Kairo demo now to convince me to buy it, and at the very least support it on Greenlight. It strangely reminds me of the old Freescape games for the Spectrum (Driller, Total Eclipse) although those seemed to run about 3 fps!
25/09/2012 at 11:00 KaptainKarnage says:
That screenshot at the very top really does remind me of the intro from Deus Ex.
25/09/2012 at 14:53 Napalmburns says:
Do not play this game with a hangover, trust me, you will hurl. Does look good tho.
25/09/2012 at 15:56 pilouuuu says:
Wow, an Adventure Time would be great! There are so many crazy and fun characters. Someone make a RPG soon!
25/09/2012 at 17:27 The Random One says:
There was an Adventure Time game jam recently, and apparently an official game is coming, but I think it’s an iOS exclusive.
25/09/2012 at 17:37 Kaira- says:
Also, something is coming for 3DS.