Creatures of Ava – saving alien ecology. Review

Played on Xbox Series S

There are many games dedicated to environmental issues; the Sonic the Hedgehog series, for example, initially raised this topic. But especially often, such projects are released by independent developers: they place players in small worlds and invite them to interact with flora and fauna, photographing the environment or saving regions from infection. So Creatures of Ava talks about the same thing – in the role of a researcher named Vic, we go to the planet Ava, which we want to save from a terrible scourge.

⇡#Savior with a staff

Vic is not the first person on Ava, so he quickly gains the trust of the local Naam people. Alien creatures have seen people so often that they have learned their language and speak it fluently. They accept the offered help because they have been suffering for a very long time from an infection infecting everything around them, which is called withering. Both plants and animals were covered with dried crust, and dried flowers appeared on the paths that could not be removed.

The naam only seem unhappy – they are actually very good-natured

By a happy coincidence, Vic, shortly after landing on the planet, finds himself in a secret place, where he meets a local archaeologist and gains access to Nafitar, a magical staff that releases a beam that allows him to fight desiccation. He destroys dried flowers, as a result of which obstacles disappear, and heals animals – being infected, they are very aggressive and attack the heroine at the first opportunity. The artifact also has other features – for example, the ability to lift objects into the air. But clearing infection is its main purpose.

Our task is to communicate with local residents, take tasks from them and explore the regions. The story cannot be called exciting, but there are very interesting types of characters: there is an inquisitive alien, there is a distrustful native who does not allow his personal space to be invaded, there is a good-natured archaeologist. Even if the central plot is not captivating, you don’t want to miss the dialogues and want to spend time with the locals.

Story quests are always marked on the mini-map, so it’s hard to get lost

When we’re not interacting with anyone and exploring the open world, we’re either running and jumping on platforms or fighting infestations. Animals suffer the most from it: at each meeting with representatives of the fauna, the player needs to briefly feel like a ghost hunter – direct the beam towards the infected animal and maintain contact until the scale above his head runs out. Of course, there is no combat system – you just have to dodge the attacks of frightened and drugged animals if they run or fly in your direction. And some even throw or spit something.

Soon after starting the game, you learn another way to interact with animals – you get a flute at your disposal. When an infected animal is saved, you can tame it – to do this, you need to take out a flute and repeat a short melody performed by the animal. After this, the creature will become friendlier and you will even be able to pet it, but the main thing is to take control of it. This must be done to pass certain areas – for example, small boars are able to penetrate tiny caves, and horse-like creatures accelerate and destroy barriers of infected foliage.

The animals will wait for the perfect melody, no matter how many times you make mistakes

⇡#Music has tied us

The whole game is built on unity with nature – you help creatures, and they help you in return. After which you collect them and take them to the rescue bot, which sends the animals to the Bio-Ark ship in orbit – they do not prevent this in any way. At first it seems like rescuing the beasts is optional, but that’s not the case – once you’ve completed exploring a region, the next one can only be accessed after completing a so-called rescue operation. In the lower right corner of the screen it is written how many animals and what types need to be evacuated to the Bio-Ark.

The process is, frankly, tedious. At first it’s fun to do: you save animals, you can pet them, dig up consumables hidden underground and destroy barriers so that the character can move on. But then everything inevitably begins to turn into routine. I found an infected animal and “connected” to it with a beam. You run in different directions and dodge attacks. Then the animal turns out to be wild and does not make contact – you take out the flute. You are waiting for a hint on what melody to play. You make a mistake a couple of times, either because you didn’t see the clue correctly, or because you didn’t stretch out one of the notes enough. Well, you gather everyone together to evacuate. In each region you do the same thing.

There are also animal hugs here.

This is not to say that playing is completely boring and you want to quit Creatures of Ava – after all, this is not the only component of the gameplay. Story missions take you to new places, solve simple puzzles, and explore open worlds full of secrets. You can make potions from collected herbs, hidden objects can increase your health and stamina, and all sorts of “collections” give you research points. You spend the latter on leveling up – you can strengthen the beam of the staff, expand your inventory (which always has no room), and so on. It is especially interesting to look for cable cars in locations that allow you to quickly get to higher elevations.

At the same time, there are mechanics here that could make the process of saving animals more interesting, but they seem to have been abandoned halfway through development. For example, at the very beginning of the game you are taught to hide in the tall grass – they say that the animals will not see you there. But there will be no reason to do this in the future: there is no point in sneaking up on infected animals, and ordinary animals will not run far, even if they notice the character, and will always react to the sound of your flute.

Ready for evacuation

In the case of the camera, more work was done, but you rarely use it either. It serves as a kind of scanner here, especially if you upgrade it – you can see places where there are plants, and also receive hints when you are near a collectible item. Well, take pictures, of course – this is also necessary to fill out the local “Avapedia”, which contains information about creatures living in different regions. In fact, you turn to it very rarely – the plot hardly needs it, and filling out the Avapedia does not provide any significant bonuses.

***

In the end, you still want to play – the animals look very cute, and the music is pleasant. The authors managed to create the atmosphere of an alien, but very friendly planet, where local residents are not afraid of human aliens and allow themselves to be helped, and we are actively engaged in saving nature. At the same time, Creatures of Ava suffers from monotonous gameplay, so it’s difficult to complete it in one gulp – it’s better to take breaks. And every time you return to it again, the first thing you do is pay attention to its advantages, not its disadvantages.

Advantages:

• A variety of cute little animals living in several different regions;
• You don’t want to miss dialogues with charming characters;
• Convenient controls and clear gameplay.

Disadvantages:

• The process of purifying, taming and saving animals gets boring at some point;
• The need to save a certain number of animals to access a new region can be an unpleasant surprise;
• Some mechanics are not fully disclosed.

Graphic arts

The image seems “overcooked”, especially in the first region, but you get used to it. The main thing is that the characters and animals are adorable.

Sound

Very pleasant music allows you to close your eyes to the fact that the characters do not speak in the dialogues. It looks strange, like you’re playing a JRPG, but apparently there wasn’t enough budget for voice acting.

Single player game

Several large regions, each of which is full of story and side quests, as well as animals waiting for your help. It’s monotonous, so it’s better to play with breaks.

Estimated time of completion

10 hours for the main plot, after which you can start rescuing the remaining animals.

Collective game

Not foreseen.

General impression

A nice adventure with a good premise, but rather monotonous gameplay.

Rating: 7.0 / 10

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