Game: Arkan: The Dog Adventurer
Genre: Action, Arcade, Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on PC)
Developer|Publisher: Sometimes You
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £4.49 | US $ 4.99 | EU € 4,99
Release Date: June 30th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to Sometimes You
Breaking Out of Trend
One of my favourite games growing up was Breakout. A simple game where you play a paddle at the bottom of the screen and knock a ball into some blocks until the screen is clear. I used to call it ‘Pong: if you have no friends.’ Strangely you don’t see a lot of budding indie developers taking much inspiration from this gem. Many still opt to go for the platform experience instead of looking at the enormous amount of other retro games you could take inspiration from. Well, the developers of Arkan: The Dog Adventurer, took note of this and created a pretty fun coffee game.
The Stick is Stronger Than the Sword
Arkan: The Dog Adventurer is an arcade platform puzzler. You play as a Knight who is also a very good dog. Your quest is to clear the screen of enemies, but, instead of using the sword, you use a stick to launch a ball and hit it against enemies. Most of these are hidden behind several protective blocks which slowly erode away as your ball bounces off them.
The level is complete when all enemies are defeated. As you clear more enemies the ones left become more aggressive, giving the player a small incentive to take out the harder enemies first if you can. A side objective is to hit your ball into the three stars dotted around each level. It certainly makes a change from the usual finish a level under a strict time limit to gain three stars. Each time the ball bounces back you can hit it again increasing the ball’s power taking down more blocks in a row.
The enemies won’t go down easily; they will fling projectiles back at you which for some reason you can’t deflect or block with your stick. Instead, you need to avoid these by jumping around and trying to hit your ball back. The Knight can take a set amount of hits but lose too much health and its game over.
If you miss your ball it’s not the end of the world. If it drifts off-screen you get the chance to relaunch it but you lose any power bonuses you obtained. It’s a simple pick up and play concept that is appealing to those looking for a simple arcade experience.
A Different Way to Move
Controls are a little unusual, to begin with. You move the Knight with the left stick or D-pad, but you jump using the up movement instead of a button. This feels a little unnatural at first. You also double jump by pressing the up buttons twice. When you’re trying to dodge a hail of projectiles, using the up movement to double jump just doesn’t feel as reliable as pressing a button. When you swing your stick you create a circle around the Knight so you don’t have to be exactly lined up to the ball to hit it back. You can also use the left stick to aim where your ball heads to, but under pressure, I often found myself more concerned with avoiding death than getting my aim precise.
If you are in a tight spot you can also use a teleport button to attempt to avoid incoming projectiles. This also puts the game into temporary slow motion to help you get your bearings. Its a good feature but sometimes when using it I found my Knight just warped into the hazard I was trying to avoid. It feels like having the ability to just deflect hazards would have worked better but maybe the developer thought that would make the game too easy, smashing back multiple projectiles just sounds more fun to me.
Pixel Dog
Graphics are simple pixel graphics. No particular thrills here, your Knight has some pretty good animations with the stick but expect to see some pretty standard environments for a light fantasy game. There is a decent variety of enemies such as dragons, eyeball monsters and evil wizards. It does the job but doesn’t offer a lot that’s not been seen with this style before.
Arkan is a fun arcade-style game that is pretty enjoyable to pick up for those short bursts of gaming. My main niggle is towards the end of the game. The difficulty devolves into simply throwing more enemies at you or firing an enormous amount of lasers and projectiles at you.
It feels like the levels could have been better designed, creating a more thought-provoking puzzle experience rather than relying on quick reflexes to avoid the lasers and attempt to hit the ball back. Some levels also have bottomless pits and if you fall in it’s an instant game over. Not a deal-breaker by any stretch but there’s room for improvement.
Conclusion – Good Boy
If you like your simple arcade-style games and fancy one that’s not going to break the bank, then Arkan: The Dog Adventurer is a nice distraction for a few gaming sessions. You know the drill with a coffee game. Grab a nice drink, relax and attempt to save the realm by flinging balls at enemies. Not a bad way to spend a night in.
Final Verdict: I Like it
