It probably won’t win any end-of-the-year awards, but Kaku: Ancient Seal’s 1.0 release is still a consistently enjoyable (albeit shamelessly familiar) open world ARPG.

Four-Minute Video Review: https://youtu.be/4vZyHi_s9rg

STORY

You are Kaku: a perpetually hungry tween caveman kid thing who underwent some impressive cosmetic surgery during his year in Early Access. After a rushed opening hour in which you'll chase a tiny pig while getting chased by a big pig before killing some medium-sized pigs, then combat a plague of dark magic, murder some pinecone-wearing “ponpons,” unlock an ancient temple, battle its stone guardian, befriend said stone guardian, realize your pig has superpowers, and unlock an interdimensional realm of jumping puzzles that allow you to upgrade your cooking and combat skills (seriously, that’s all in the first 52 minutes), you’ll settle into a more digestible pace of exploring four environmentally-themed regions.

There’s the lava-covered Flame Mountains, sandy Dragonbone Desert, zombie-ponpon-infested Misty Swamps, and icy Howling Snowfield. Each region spotlights a supporting character, all of whom have a sympathetic backstory but none of whom amount to being very memorable, in part due to the game’s pretty predictable plot, and in part due to its poorly-translated script that’s brought to semi-life by oogabooga caveman voice acting.

But that’s okay because, (A) Kaku’s Zelda-based inspiration ain’t exactly drenched in Shakespearean prose, either and (B) you loved Switch-era Zelda anyway thanks to its fun combat, inventive non-combat mechanics, incredible puzzles, and massive, detail-stuffed world.

GAMEPLAY & CONTENT

In these areas, Kaku mostly holds its own. While he can’t climb for ♥♥♥♥ and lacks a glider, Kaku’s flying piglet friend allows him to leap large gaps, disguise himself as a ponpon to make it easier to raid their many camps, and even envelop you in a big bubble that allows you to run across water. God help you if you touch deep water without your bubble, however (but a little lava is, for some reason, perfectly fine!).

Combat, meanwhile, benefits from a fun skill tree with dozens of perks and combos and even ultimates to unlock, but each realm only features a few unique enemy designs and a ton of reskinned repeats, meaning you’ll go from fighting white pigs to red pigs to blue pigs. But there’s more to Kaku than swine! During your explorations, you’ll encounter a variety of resource types that you can auto-loot with your slingshot, as well as a number of points of interest, including crafting benches where you can restock your ranged ammo, cooking pots to replenish health and stamina-restoring foods, ruins you’ll activate to unlock shrines in that interdimensional puzzle realm I mentioned earlier, and fast travel waypoint towers you can unlock by solving sliding block puzzles.

At first, I thought Kaku’s puzzle fun would end here, but then I reached my first temple and boy did my jaw and or balls literally drop. As was the case in with BotW and TotK, there’s a fairly remarkable leap in quality when you reach Kaku’s temples—not just for the creative jumping puzzles, but for the boss fights, too. Each temple boss features multiple health bars and movesets, but enemies won’t scale with your level or gear (at least, I don’t think so), so don’t feel too defeated if the first one kicks in your wonky cavekid teeth. Just collect more gemkeys and beat more shrine puzzles, get a corresponding HP/stamina boost, and then go even the score.

Alas, in between these excellent temples, Kaku throws hours of unfun fetch quests at you as you sprint from one end of each realm to another completing errands for that realm’s featured companion. Don’t expect these so-called friends to lift a finger, however, even if you’re both ambushed by an army of ponpon warriors.

STYLE

As for style, Kaku is a bright, colorful game with occasionally beautiful backdrops that highlight the game’s varied biomes. On closer inspection, a lot of textures lack fine detailing, but the overall effect is still a pretty one. As for music, I enjoyed the game’s lighthearted if forgettable, xylophone-heavy soundtrack, though it grows a bit repetitive as your adventure unfolds. Finally, the game’s sound design ranges from meh to bleh.

CONCLUSION

In the end, Kaku: Ancient Seal is a fun if overly familiar rehashing of what made the last two Zelda games so special (on a fraction of the budget). But, while Kaku in no way fills Link’s figuratively massive and literally tiny boots (dude is 5’2” tops), it’s a solid game in its own right and should net you around 20 to 30 hours of playtime. For $20, consider me decently impressed with Kaku’s overall value.

I’m giving Kaku: Ancient Seal an aggregate MEGA score of 3.2/5 (full scoring breakdown from "Plot" to "Sound" available in the video review). Thanks for reading!

STEAM CURATOR: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42044015/

Platforming is bad. slick edges: you slide off objects and end up dead. Combat animation wait time due to unresponsive controls.

Positive: All other aspects. Skills, advancement, setting, mobility, non-platforming easy puzzles, and a goblin-loot addiction.

6h into the store. I've done the intro a couple of times. This game is addictingly amazing!
- Cute & fun art &dialogues
- Easy to learn game mechanics
- Puzzles that don't leave you too frustrated *(some might say too easy, I say accessible)
- PIGGY