Game: Kalanoro
Genre: Action, Platformer, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows))
Developer|Publisher: Red Raketa Studio | New Tales
Age Rating: EU 3 | US Everyone
Price: US $19.99 | UK 16.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: September 24th, 2026
Review code provided with many thanks to Keymailer.
Kalanoro – Hairy Adventure
Kalanoro is one of those games that immediately feels a little different. It’s a colourful, quirky top-down action-platformer that takes some familiar ideas and throws a distinctly odd musical spin over the top. It certainly has some rough edges, particularly on Switch, but I walked away from it feeling that it had something about it. It is weird, cheerful, family-friendly and surprisingly full of personality. And sometimes that’s enough to win me over.
Welcome To Lemuria
Kalanoro takes place in Lemuria, a world inspired by Madagascar’s folklore, where an evil corporation is causing all sorts of trouble. Your character is sent on a mission to fight back, gather musicians and ultimately form a band capable of taking on the forces controlling the island. I’ll admit that when the story was first introduced, I thought we’d be heading into fairly familiar territory. Evil corporation, bad people exploiting the land, plucky hero trying to stop them. We’ve been here before. But Kalanoro gradually won me over by leaning into its sillier side. Rather than simply fighting the corporation with fists and weapons, you’re essentially fighting back by putting together a band and organising concerts. Apparently, the answer to evil capitalism is music. I’m not sure that’s how economics works, but I’m absolutely willing to give it a go.
The game doesn’t constantly hammer its message home either. A lot of the story comes through NPC dialogue and little environmental details, including holographic advertisements from the corporation that occasionally pop up with their own amusing comments. It’s all rather odd, but in a good way.
Exploring Lemuria
The main gameplay has you travelling through different areas that have a slight dungeon-crawler feel to them. You’ll explore levels, rescue characters, complete little missions and hunt for collectables while gradually opening up more of the world.
There are blue orbs to collect, which can be spent on upgrades and other items, while posters can be placed around the environment to increase the number of fans your band attracts. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up looking behind every suspicious-looking corner because Kalanoro really encourages exploration. The levels have plenty of branching paths and hidden collectables, and you can aim for 100% completion. The map helpfully shows what you’ve already collected, which makes returning to an area much less painful when you’re trying to find that one thing you somehow walked straight past.
Hair, Frying Pans And Everything Else
Combat is probably one of the more entertaining parts of Kalanoro simply because of how ridiculous it can be. You can pick up various improvised weapons, including vegetables, frying pans and hammers, and use them to bash enemies or throw them from a distance. But your hair is also a weapon. Yes, your character can literally flick their hair out towards enemies, attaching to them and allowing you to perform various special moves. There are jumps, slams and other movement abilities too, giving you a surprisingly flexible set of tools. Combat isn’t particularly difficult, though. Most enemies can be dispatched without too much trouble, although larger enemies with shields require a little more thought. Boss fights feel more creative and the difficulty curve increases a little but not to frustrating levels.
The platforming follows a similar approach. You’ve got a double jump and an air dash. If you fall into a pit, you respawn close by. If you do lose all your health, you can spend some orbs to continue or restart the game. If you do continue, you keep all collectables found up to this point. It’s forgiving, but I think that fits the casual nature of the game.
The Tour Bus
Between your adventures, you return to your tour bus, which acts as your little hub. Your band members hang out here, and you can talk to them, craft items, grow plants and prepare things for your next concert. You also need to keep your band members happy, with some asking for particular meals or song requests before they’ll continue helping you. This is where I had one of my few reservations about the overall design. I understand what the bus is trying to do, and some players will probably enjoy having this little management layer between levels. For me, though, some of it felt like unnecessary busywork. There are times when a band member can get captured again if you don’t keep them happy, meaning you have to go back out and rescue them. It’s not a disaster, but I found myself wondering whether the game really needed this extra layer. I’d usually rather just get back out there and explore.
Put On A Show
Once you’ve built up enough support for your band, you can perform concerts, and this was one of the more enjoyable additions. You get to watch your band perform while completing little mini-games. These can involve hitting enemies with a cursor or timing button presses correctly. They’re not particularly demanding, but they add a bit of variety and help reinforce the whole musical road-trip idea. The music itself is pretty decent too, and these moments give Kalanoro some of its personality.
A Rough Switch Ride
Unfortunately, the Switch version does have a noticeable weakness: the visuals. I played on Switch, including in handheld mode, and the image quality can look surprisingly soft and blurry. There’s a Vaseline-smeared appearance to the presentation in handheld mode. It is better on the television, but I still couldn’t help wondering how much better the game could look on PC (the game is available on Steam).
That’s a shame because underneath the presentation issues, I actually like the art direction. The colourful 3D characters, cheerful environments and quirky enemy designs all work well together. The whole thing has a playful Madagascar-inspired style that gives it a distinctive identity. Hopefully the Switch version can receive some refinement, maybe a Switch 2 update, because the underlying game deserves a cleaner presentation.
A Casual Adventure With Personality
Despite those rough edges, I found myself enjoying Kalanoro more and more as I played. It’s not particularly challenging, and if you’re looking for a hardcore action-platformer, this probably isn’t going to scratch that itch. But if you want something casual, colourful and a little bit weird, there is plenty here to enjoy. The exploration is fun, the collectables give you a reason to poke around every corner, the combat has some entertaining ideas, and the whole musical theme gives the game a personality of its own. I’d particularly recommend it to anyone who enjoys taking their time with a game and gradually ticking things off rather than rushing from one objective to the next.
Conclusion – Get the Band Together
Kalanoro is weird and quirky in a good way. The Switch presentation certainly holds it back a little. Some of the bus management elements also feel more like padding than something I genuinely needed. But underneath those issues is a genuinely likeable game with plenty of personality. I enjoyed exploring Lemuria, hunting down collectables, throwing ridiculous weapons at enemies and, yes, using my hair as a weapon. The game’s casual difficulty also makes it an easy game to pick up for a bit in the evening without needing to prepare yourself for an epic battle of wills.
If you have access to the PC version, I’d probably lean towards that for the cleaner presentation. But regardless of platform, there is something quite enjoyable about Kalanoro’s strange combination of platforming, exploration, music and silly humour. It’s a little rough around the edges, but sometimes those odd little games are the ones that stick with you.
Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot.
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