KAKU: Ancient Seal Early Access, Early Man
Cavemen have come a loooong way since Chuck Rock, and KAKU: Ancient Seal proves that. What a pretty game. Pretty big, too – considering that this game from BINGOBELL is in the Early Access stage, but still offers plenty of exploration in the process.
You play the titular Kaku (writing this but in lowercase) – a caveperson who manages to get roped into a mythical story involving a character named Saga and lots and lots of elemental… stuff. Fortunately, our hero gets to dabble in this, wielding various weapons and equipment, cooking consumables on the fly, and befriending a flying pig with special powers.
There’s no dialogue in KAKU: Ancient Seal – of course, that’s because cave people can’t talk, but it’s probably due to the game’s global appeal [insert language here]. There is dialogue in the form of subtitles, but if you’re not one for reading, you will struggle as it’s mostly groans and made-up stuff. One assumes…
KAKU: Ancient Seal Early Access
The core story involves retracing the steps of Saga, saving fellow tribes, solving the puzzles that free the land, and typically bashing stuff about the head with a club or shooting from afar. The game description says semi-open-world, which might sound restrictive, but it’s not – there’s quite a bit of freedom, even now in this stage, to explore biomes and a wealth of enemies to slay.
While there’s a main storyline to attend to, various side quests take place, and it’s recommended to do these not only to explore KAKU: Ancient Seal and its lands but to level up as well. There are a range of areas you can tinker with from permanent health and stamina upgrades, making dishes that restore health or add buffs, upgrading your offence and defence gear, plus a decent-sized skill tree – all unlocked through numerous currencies from foraging, discovery, and battles.
There’s a whiff of BOTW here as Kaku can don an array of clothing and equipment that affects their stats – i.e. better stamina, max health, or just because it looks purdy. On the other hand, Kaku isn’t a looker and is unlikely to feature on posters on teenagers’ walls. The other BOTW comparison lies in the ruins you’ll stumble across; only the puzzles here aren’t on par with Nintendo’s variety.
Simple Challenges For Simple People
On a mild sour note, KAKU: Ancient Seal is quite an easy game, irrespective of the difficulty levels. Yes, combat is way harder when the settings are up, but with the catapult, you can cheese a lot of areas – especially when you level up the ability tree and invest in ranged attacks. That might not be such a bad thing as it didn’t spoil my time so much as it left more exploration options. However, those puzzles didn’t exactly fry the old grey matter.
Once again with the BOTW comparison, those ruins will feel familiar. Gradually they get more challenging, and the rewards are worth it, but with that focus back on open-world, you can skim past them if you wish. Again, it’s a decent map to play with, and there’s a fast travel option (once you reach an area) to jump back and forth. Generally speaking, it’s an enjoyable game that’s easy to get lost in once you start levelling up, however, there is one aspect that can be pretty annoying.
Kaku only has one life. Should you die, it’s immediately a game over – the only way to continue is from the last save point. Though there are a generous amount of totems throughout the game that serve as save points and a way to heal, it’s very easy to farm an area, notice an artefact across a river, then upon jumping, fall in the water and immediately die. If you didn’t save… But, apart from that? Very interesting.
Currently in Early Access, KAKU: Ancient Seal is pretty decent. Yes, a bit easy in places and also grindy, but if you like that sort of thing, this might be worth your time.
