Yaga Reviews

[h1]Neither Here nor There: Yaga[/h1] In recent years, Slavic mythology and tradition has become more of a presence on the world of video games, thanks in no small part to the Witcher series. [b]Yaga[/b] takes a slightly different approach, trading some of the grimdark brooding for a more fairy-tale-like feel. In Yaga, you play as Ivan, a blacksmith that narrowly escapes an encounter with the witch Likho, saving his skin but losing an arm and being cursed with bad luck. When the ancient Baba Yaga tells the Tzar that having Ivan around will bring bad luck for him and his tzardom, he sends Ivan away to complete a series of tasks plucked straight out of Slavic legends and fairy tales. The story leans heavily on the elements of Slavic folklore - Ivan will receive quests from various NPCs, then set out into the wilderness to complete them. And just like the protagonists in the stories of old, Ivan will have to employ the might of his arm and the sharpness of his mind in equal measure. Many of the quests you undertake will play out depending on the choices Ivan makes during dialogues. These come in five flavors: righteous, aggressive, selfish, foolish, and neutral. In addition, once you've gathered enough XP to level up, the bonuses you receive will depend on your dialogue choices. For instance, if you favored aggressive responses during your quest, you'll get more combat-related options when leveling up. This is an unexpected, but rather neat take on the leveling up mechanic, making it feel like your choices matter not only in the grand scheme of the story, but also in the moment-to-moment gameplay. However, there are times when it's quite difficult to figure out what the consequences of your choices will be. This is further compounded by the fact that many NPCs will straight up lie to you, and there's no way for you to know that's the case until it's too late. This is just one of the symptoms of a general lack of clarity that seems to permeate the entire gameplay of Yaga. Many of the mechanics are either not explained well enough, or in some cases, at all. Take, for instance, the bad luck mechanic. As befitting a jinxed character, Ivan will accumulate bad luck whenever you use magic items, progress certain quests, or choose dialogue options that "aren't in his character" (there's no mention on what [b]is[/b] in Ivan's character, but it presumably refers to the type of dialogue you chose the most). Once the bad luck meter is filled, you gain XP a lot faster, but there's also a solid chance you'll attract Likho's attention. If this happens, she'll swoop down on you, breaking your weapon, stealing a few items, and maybe erasing a blessing or two. This last part might not sound like much, but is pretty important. Blessings are the bonuses you get when leveling up and completing certain quests, and unless you're careful, the game can and will just take them away at random intervals. This completely negates any XP bonuses you might get from high bad luck and, in extreme cases, can break your entire build. I cannot overstate how much none of this is telegraphed. The game tanks several potentially interesting gameplay mechanics just by refusing to take a few minutes to explain how thing work. Not that the rest of the gameplay is riveting in any way. The core loop is pretty simple - you pick up quests by talking to the NPCs in the village, then move to a randomly generated map, where you fight enemies and complete the tasks you were given. The combat is pretty bare-bones and repetitive. As a blacksmith, Ivan can theoretically craft a bevy of different weapons and tools to fit your play style. In reality, I got by fine with the random weapons I found in treasure chests, and never needed to craft any tools beyond the ones I was given by default. In fact, I barely ever used any other than the grappling fork. It's clear that the presentation was the main focus here. Unfortunately, this aspect of the game also varies in quality. The graphics are rendered in a charming art style, reminiscent of children's story books. The sound is also pretty solid, with the voice acting being a particular highlight. Unfortunately, the lackluster animation brings the overall quality down a notch or two. A solid chunk of the narration and dialogues was written as a rhyme. However, the rhyming is pretty inconsistent - sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not, and when it is, the quality is all over the place. Although I think it's a cute touch, this is the kind of bold design choice you can't half-ass - either jump in with both feet, or don't even bother trying. Ultimately, Yaga is a game with a fine enough premise and several really interesting design ideas, but without the quality of execution needed to reach its full potential. Whether you enjoy it or not will depend largely on how OK you are with the repetitive gameplay and if the fairy tale of the cursed blacksmith manages to hold your attention.

I really like games that tell a good fairy and folk tale, it gives some nostalgia, yet there are some points that might need improvement. First, the battle is clunky, dodging not always work, and you got damage when you thought you dodged an attack, some monsters have damage that seems too high, making the battle not enjoyable as you have to spam bread or tuica. Second, upgrades are compulsory yet not really useful in most cases, so taking them is a pain, same for the weapons upgrade parts as most of them are not useful. Third, the battle felt repetitive and tedious as you fight and fight and fight, without much variety or other mini games, this makes replay unpleasant as I gave up playing again to see different endings cause it feels like a chore. But the boss fights are fine, the theme is interesting, and I believe with some improvements they can make something that delivers.