Game: Koral
Genre: Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam)
Developer| Publisher: Carlos Coronado
Age Rating: EU 7+| USA E
Price: £10.99|€ 11,99|$11.99
Release Date: 16th May 2019
Review Code kindly provided by Carlos Coronado
Environmental problems and the effects of global warming and pollution are getting more and more attention in the media. Which is a good thing, as they are problems that will affect us all. Games like Koral take us by the hand and show us the beauty which could be lost for future generations. Developer Carlos Coronado paints an amazing scenery of the ocean by making a beautiful puzzler where you are in charge of bringing back the light to the underwater world.
Puzzler to make the ocean a better place
In this 2D side scroller you control a water current, winding its way through the water. Swim among the diverse fragile ecosystem healing dead and dying coral and bringing it back to life. Go through caves, drift over coral reefs, explore shipwrecks. And find your way to the next level.
The puzzles often involve manipulating objects like coral plants, sea flowers and currents. The game is very creative in its ways to challenge you. The gameplay consists of collecting glowing healing energy from plant life and transporting it to the Koral to bring it back to life. On your way, you will encounter pollution barriers, that you have to break through. And while doing so, you are slowly bringing light back to the ocean.
There are 65 puzzles with 15 environments and 32 collectibles. These collectibles are all little messages that mostly contain interesting facts about ocean life. But some messages contain facts about the negative effects that humans have had on the environment, such as over-fishing, coral bleaching, and reef blasting.
Simply go with the flow
Controlling Koral is a simple affair as you only use the left joy stick to move. No buttons to press and it all works very well. It’s s game that is very pleasing to the eye. There are beautiful graphics with fish, sea turtles and various other sea life swimming around in the sea.
The puzzles are nice enough, but the strength of the game is in the relaxing quality. This is accompanied by relaxing music to match the the thoughtful gameplay Developer Carlos Coronado says Koral is a love letter to the sea and it certainly is. It makes you think about the horrible pollution that we as humans are causing in our oceans and the way we threaten sea life.
A man on a mission
Carlos Coronado clearly is a man on a mission. He has released a making off Koral video which shows the game being made at sea on a boat and the challenges they faced with a limited power supply. Not only does it give you a clearer view on what the game tries to accomplish, but it’s also a nice documentary about how videogames are made. Check it out below.
Conclusion
Koral isn’t a long game: during the gameplay of about two hours you experience a mixture of relaxing gameplay and a confronting message. The message that if we don’t stop polluting the environment, all this beauty will one day be gone.
It’s a warning wrapped in a beautiful package, but it never comes across as preachy. Which is why I Like Koral a Lot
I love underwater games and I’ve been playing through this one with intent to do a review as well. I am pretty frustrated with the sluggish controls. I’m not fond of their choice of the player character being just a wisp of current. There were so many more interesting engaging options they could have gone with, like an octopus or otter. It’s a shame because the graphics are stunning and the environmental messages are good. The gameplay just feels so uninspired. Thanks for the writeup on this one!
So you’re going to do a review yourself too? It will be interesting to read your thoughts on the game. I myself haven’t played it of course, one of the other writers has. But I was very much reminded of a WWF movie that was shown in 3D in one of my favorite theme parks: the Efteling.