Game: Karambola
Genre:Â Adventure, Casual, Indie
System: Steam (Windows, macOS & Linux)
Developer|Publisher:Â Holy Pangolin
Price: US $ Free | UK £ Free | EU € Free
Release Date: June 16th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Holy Pangolin.
Karambola is the story of a town of strange fruit-like people who are beset by packs of evil bird thoughts. These thoughts have driven each away from one another, and only the player can save them from their depression and help them to find one another again.
The Gameplay and Story
The story of Karambola is focused on solving nine different puzzles. The entire adventure takes place in a puzzle-locked, point-and-click style world made of handmade drawings, colorful characters, and unique music and soundscapes. The first character we meet is Karambola themself, a starfruit-shaped friend who is lost in drink.
Clicking certain items on the screen can unlock new locations, new items to interact with, and sometimes even unlock difficult music-based puzzles. Karambola is a very short game; I completed the entire thing in less than 30 minutes. Players can play each of the nine puzzles in just about any order.
Unique, Colorful, and Strange
Karambola is filled to the brim with weird little friends that are all separated by dark thoughts. In order to clear them away, players need to interact with each of their worlds to bring them back together. Each sound, each colorful character, and every single pixel of this game is obviously handmade and deeply thought through.
The story focuses on the dark thoughts that we can all sometimes be plagued with, and the ending is a warm celebration of friends and everything good that life has to offer. All those wonderful things that evil thought birds can take away from us if we let them.
Overall Thoughts
I am so happy that I ended up playing this game; it’s not something I would have picked up on my own. I probably would have been driven away by the look of it. It’s incredibly strange to look at for the first time. The music is weird and the whole title has a vibe that feels strange to jump into. In spite of all that, I grew very attached to this beautiful piece very quickly. It feels incredibly, deeply personal.
Conclusion
Karambola is also a free-to-play game, so everyone out there who loves short, emotional journeys should definitely pick this one up; you have nothing to lose but a little bit of time in the weirdest, most wonderful little fruit-based world ever seen before. Karambola in short is the strange, wild, and wonderful world that I didn’t know I wanted.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up:Â
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