Publisher(s): Octosoft
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: TBA
Renaine is a Kickstarter-originated title that bills itself as “a game about overcoming failure.” The protagonist, Aine, is able to come back to life an infinite number of times, but also has to defeat a Dragon as an act of revenge while traveling across the Kingdom of Lineria. You jump, roll, and attack with your sword in order to move across the 2D map in an action-adventure, platforming, adventure with very busy pixelated graphics.
I am going to just open with my favorite two parts of my Renaine demo: the writing and the music. The NPC dialogue is frequently snarky and fantastic, and I kept wanting to laugh while playing. For example, when you enter the dojo at the start of the demo to learn how to play the game, one of the NPCs gives the cliché statement that how anyone can become a pro with enough hard work and determination. Immediately to the right, another NPC states a more realistic answer of how SOME can become a pro with enough hard work and determination. After training and learning basic combat, a different NPC explains that advanced lessons are for the full game, and you’ll even run into an NPC with an upside-down head who talks about it and tries to get you to relate to him. This style of snarky and fourth-wall break humor was peppered throughout the demo without wearing out its welcome. The music, which is a very jazzy set of tunes, is incredible as well and is a fairly unique aspect for a platforming title. I actually found myself wanting to buy a copy of Renaine’s soundtrack to just put on in the background while I am living my day-to-day life. If you listen to the above linked trailer, you’ll see what I mean!
Of course, Renaine is more than just music and humor, and thankfully it also delivers in gameplay. The platforming and combat controls were pretty tight, and I felt like I could accurately judge where Aine was going to land when he jumped, and that if I was fast enough, I could hit what I was aiming at with my weapon. The real surprise though was that there is a fairly unique powerup gameplay loop. Whenever you kill enemies, you get money to collect. And fairly frequently, you run across an NPC shop that gives you different weapons or abilities to buy for a price — and you could get one at a time. You’re making choices between a fire rod that shoots flames, bombs that walk around, and so much more. There are even more surreal items such as different mushroom powerups that…well…turn you into an actual mushroom. All of this actually incentivized me to kill all the enemies I could find in order to get more money to keep trying out new powers as I would come across them. In the second half of the demo, I actually was partnered up with another, much larger, NPC, who helped me to fight enemies all throughout a sand area and I loved how it mixed up the gameplay.
Overall, Renaine was a blast to play and to experience. I was not expecting such sharp humor and writing while demoing it, but that, along with the constant powerups gameplay loop, really drew me into wanting to see more and more of the kingdom of Lineria and its inhabitants when it eventually releases for PC and for Nintendo Switch.
Are you excited for Renaine? What powerups are you hoping to find and use in the game?
Let us know below!
