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It is always fun when adventure games are willing to try unique game mechanics, but using these unique mechanics well is often a different story. Kai Fate of Kai is fun as a semi-interactive comic book, with exquisite art and clever time-lapse puzzles, but some frustrating post-game sequences and the incredibly short game time that cannot take full advantage of the unique mechanics make It cannot be formatted like it.

We first found Kay waking up in a field of sunflowers. Standing up and exploring the neighborhood for a while, the young man found a treasure chest-but when he reached for it, a shackle came out of the chest and hung it on Kay's wrist. The glowing image on the shackles indicated that the box had to be taken to some kind of castle, so after trying to get rid of the chains but failed, Kay started to complete the task and get rid of the burden of being forced to drag.

Kai's fate is presented like a comic book. You can turn to the next page by clicking the arrow on the right. The interaction is mainly in the form of selecting and moving words in the character's thought bubble. For example, in the early scenes, you are facing a big mountain. Kay’s thought bubble says: "Climb." If you leave it there and move to the next page, you will see him climbing a mountain, where he will encounter an obstacle that he will soon be unable to overcome. Kay’s thought bubble is shown here: "Jump." You can continue in the default way to see its next direction, or you can start to be creative. In this case, you can click to add the "jump" thought bubble to your inventory, turn the page back to Mountain View, and switch "climbing" with your new action. Now, Kay no longer climbs the mountain, but jumps over the rocks in the river beside the mountain, reaches the opposite bank, and continues his journey.

Sometimes you can also interact with past scenes. In one example, you see a destroyed bridge that cannot be crossed. There is a small hourglass button next to the broken bridge panel. Clicking on it will allow you to go back in time and see how the bridge was destroyed-as a result, the dragon's attack caused damage. From there you can move words in the character's thought bubble so that the dragon will never attack. When you click the hourglass again and go back to the present, the bridge is in perfect condition and you can move on.

Until the last few chapters, the puzzles are simple and ingenious from beginning to end. A late task lets you try to find a way out in a maze of woods. You can choose to go left or right at each intersection, and each decision will take you to another identical fork in the path until you get out of the forest. Figuring out the pattern to reach the destination requires you to walk back and forth several times in the page of the story. This is not as simple as it seems-it is not just figuring out the pattern problem maze, but figuring out the patterns and completing them in a specific order Some events, and then go through the maze again. I thought I did it a few times, but it turns out that there is a specific sequence of events that can really pass, so after trying but failed to understand the given clues, I decided to look up the guide to understand what the solution became. After successful tracking, the only thing I can think of is, "Wow, I would never think of this naturally." Trial and trial has brought me close a few times, but the game provides you with the information that should be used to figure it out. Will make the puzzle more confusing.

A more tedious sequence in the next chapter-after you are captured by a monster that forces you to perform manual labor-requires you to decide which colored ores to destroy with a pickaxe, while the timer is ticking, forcing you to start again if You made a mistake. You have to choose the correct color ten times, and if you choose the wrong color in any of the ten times, you will start again. This in itself can be frustrating and not very interesting, but the fact that certain colors look very similar makes me struggle to distinguish them. I can't imagine anyone with color blindness being able to complete this sequence, especially since there are no accessibility options. Rather than making me look forward to the finale, the penultimate worst sequence makes me hope that the game will end as soon as I finish the penultimate chapter.

Although there are some short texts introducing the seven chapters of the game, the story is mainly told without dialogue. Kay’s fate uses a fantasy background to tell a very relevant story about a man seeking to escape the routine and soul-absorbing work, although I’m not sure if these metaphors are as clear as they want-Kay’s chest is locked, as He is forced to carry a decent symbol of the emotional "weight", but other metaphors and analogies feel vague. You might want an interactive comic book to have multiple endings or some degree of control over the event by the player, but this is not the case. Although you can choose how to solve certain obstacles along the way, this is a linear story with a puzzle where a solution is associated with a "correct" result. This is disappointing, especially when the narrative is not that unique or fresh.

The bright cartoon 2D art is well done, although I did encounter one or two specific comic panels, in other sharper panels, they look distractingly low-resolution and grainy. In addition, the graphics are rich in color, present the story well without text, with expressive characters and attractive backgrounds. Film orchestral soundtracks are less noticeable than art, although it sounds pleasant and adds some much-needed life to the adventure. The soft Kalimba melody accompanies the earlier, calmer scenes, while the expansive strings and vibrant percussion bring a sense of urgency and tension to the more dramatic moments.

All in all, Kai's fate seems more like a reliable proof of concept than a mature game. The central interactive storybook mechanism is very interesting, but it feels not mature enough. It was completed in less than an hour, and when the game was different from the clever text manipulations that I liked before, I remembered two later periods of boredom and frustration. Although the game looks great in imitating the feel of interactive comics, in such a short game time, every panel, puzzle, and chapter really needs to be meaningful. On the contrary, this experience is too superficial to even invite a lot of replays, although it promises the player's choice, so the end result is one of the missed opportunities. I would love to see the corrected story and the same style in a longer game. The puzzle.

Although "Kay's Destiny" has a clever game concept and pleasant comic aesthetics, its simple puzzles, slight story and some noteworthy moments of frustration prevent the game from reaching its potential.

DC Rating (September 30, 2012)