What an adventure Maki – a diminutive red-eyed creature – has before him. Threatened by the destruction of his world at the hands of a tentacle-lashing beast, Maki wakes in a prison cell and must escape with his brother in tow. Together they meet new acquaintances in a fishing village, voyage into an inhospitable jungle, escape the fiery pits of a volcano, and still find time to play a few rounds of darts and snooker. Cast aside expectations of an epic quest though, as you’ll only need to set aside 2-3 hours to save Maki’s world.
What we have here is a fast-paced and considerably condensed adventure; a whirlwind tour of a handful of tropical destinations, with a sprinkling of optional quests to embark on and a few mini-games to play if you’re in need of extra gold. There are bosses to beat too, and again, these fights are over before the dust settles – usually after entering a battle arena, Maki walks away victorious in less than two minutes, often with a new skill to boot.
Makis Adventure (Maki’s Adventure, surely?) falls into the Metroidvania genre, albeit quite loosely. It’s also one of the more imaginative examples out there, with Maki able to transform into three different sharks: a toothy great white for attacking, a hammerhead for smashing objects and to create underwater passages, and some kind of speedy brute for zipping through tight spaces. This means that the three main locations (a prison, jungle, and volcano) are peppered with underwater locations and waterfalls to navigate to reach new areas.
Minecart sections calling for quick reflexes are also used to join up locations, and it was here we saw the ‘Game Over’ screen the most due to one-hit-deaths.
Maki is armed with a scythe that’s not only used to defeat enemies – mostly of the stone golem and skeletal warrior variety – but to cut down the overgrown grass smothering the curiously colourful world, revealing bonus gold pieces. Maki later gains a charge attack to propel them to new heights, while much later a double-jump is added. This isn’t an integral feature however, merely being a handy way to get around quicker.
It dabbles with puzzle solving, and in keeping with the fast pace, it’s doubtful many gamers will find themselves stuck for long. The quest log meanwhile helps keep track of where to go next, and which areas to revisit to turn in quests. This means there is a bit of backtracking. It isn’t fatiguing in the slightest, thankfully, due to the fast-pace and small level layouts. The world map is fun to navigate too, viewed from a third-person perspective in a low-poly 3D world. It isn’t used to its fullest potential outside of a flying mini game, but it’s still a pleasant enough diversion with a sail barge shop and other areas to visit.
The presentation here is basic but also holds appeal, with characters being quirky and dialogue twee. The pixel art is a mishmash of detailed central characters, simple backdrops, modern effects, and recycled dungeon assets. Some bosses and enemy characters are also better drawn than others. All of this is kind of excusable though considering that Makis Adventure comes from a 22-year-old solo developer. There are some telling signs of this – such as the mini games feeling like Unity tutorials – but said games also lend it a lot of variety, and all are functional. A couple are a little long winded, however.
This is a humble experience through and through – one where it helps to keep in mind that this is somebody’s first attempt at a 2D platform adventure. What’s neat is that it still has the capacity to surprise, later introducing a couple of ideas that could be considered ambitious. One of the optional quests is to fill a fishing encyclopaedia, with fishing spots spread across the land.
If you’re looking for something light-hearted that won’t take much longer than an afternoon to complete, you won’t be too disappointed. There are plenty of longer lasting and more polished games out there, but not many can match Maki’s heart and soul. Think of it as the handmade birthday card of the 2D action platformer world, in that it’s a little bit crude, but also heartfelt.
Zoroarts’ Makis Adventure’s is out 27th August on consoles. A PC version is also available. Published by eastasiasoft.