Bokida: Heartfelt Reunion (PC) Review

Bokida's world starts out bleak. Greys and blacks dominate the introductory area, and emerging outside reveals a world doused in harsh white light. Everything is washed out, with the landscape's details fading into obscurity under the unrelenting brightness. Amid this, a trio of black monoliths stand, defiant of their bleached surroundings.

In this area, the core mechanics of Bokida are introduced. In addition to running, jumping, and gliding, four abilities are available for use: BUILD, CUT, PUSH, and CLEAN. A couple of extra abilities are also introduced later, though they are used sparingly.

BUILD is one of the most versatile tools, allowing the placement of an unlimited number of green blocks, as well as the ability to boost towards any that are within range. This can greatly speed up the process of traversing the large map, though getting the hang of repeatedly placing and boosting towards blocks can be difficult. It can also be used to scale seemingly impossible peaks, granting an often breath-taking view of the world.

As for the other abilities, CUT slices up blocks and other pieces of the environment, often opening new pathways or allowing objects to reposition themselves favourably. PUSH can either launch block pieces away or shatter whole blocks using a shotgun-like charge blast. Lastly, CLEAN creates a steadily-growing void, swallowing up any blocks that are caught within.

With all these powers in tow, Bokida's protagonist traverses the world in search of monoliths to activate; each one provides energy to a black orb that hangs in the sky like a sun, allowing it to increase in size and get ever closer to uniting with the light. As more pillars are activated, parts of the world begin springing to life, with colourful foliage and creatures being birthed in areas where the balance of the two sides persists. These chromatic splashes add beauty to an already gorgeously realized world, often stunning with their sudden appearance. It's a shame that there are only a handful of areas that take advantage of this, as it had the potential to break up the monotony that can otherwise sink in while soaring over the dull grey plains.

That's the overall issue with Bokida: Heartfelt Reunion: everything seems to only be skin-deep. It has interesting puzzles that make use of the different mechanics, but there are only a handful. While this does avoid repetition, it leaves a feeling of disappointment, as though the game was only scratching the surface of its potential. There are also times where the game's vague, minimalistic exposition can work against it, with some key puzzles involving so much experimentation that the solution can end up feeling either like luck or like cheating the system.

The desolation of the world also works against the collectibles: small black orbs whose purpose is never really made clear. Given more interesting terrain and quicker movement, they could have been enjoyable to hunt down, but as it stands, only the truly dedicated are likely to seek them all out.