Fate of Kai

There's something to be said for a short game that leaves a long-lasting impression. That's a great way to describe Fate of Kai, a clever new puzzle game that looks and plays out like a graphic novel. It's a bite-sized experience that will take most gamers no more than an hour to beat, yet I have a hunch that its message will end up resonating with almost everybody that plays it. But is the short length ultimately a blessing or a curse? Let's flip through the pages of Fate of Kai and find out.

This is the story of a young man named Kai, who wakes up in a beautiful dream world full of bright colors and weird creatures. Although he's initially confused by the unusual surroundings, Kai finds that he's being drawn to a buried treasure chest that he simply must open. There's just one problem: The moment he tries to take the chest, the chain connected to it automatically attaches to the boy's arm and won't let go. Forever tethered to this box, our hero is told that he must travel far and wide to visit the castle in order to be set free.

This sets up a short but decidedly epic journey through the fantasy world where Kai will need to use his brain and instincts to solve puzzles and survive a whole bunch of deadly obstacles. We follow this adventure by reading the panels that make up the book, some of which we'll need to interact with in an effort to change Kai's fate. Through seven chapters and hundreds of gorgeously drawn panels, we'll guide our hero through cities, mazes and underground mines in a quest to break free of that chest and maybe, if we're lucky, see what's inside.

We do this by interacting with the various character's thought bubbles. A typical scenario will let you collect different actions that can radically change the outcome of events. For example, in the city, you'll be able to snag actions like "jump," "run" and "accept," all of which can make sense for a number of situations. You'll also be able to dive deeper into certain panels to see backstories or change how enemies react in later panels. But even though there are a number of solutions that make sense, there's only one right answer that will get Kai one step closer to the castle. It's up to us to flip back and forth between pages to collect, dump and arrange these actions in the right order, something that is a lot more challenging than you might expect.

The brilliance of this game is how first-time developer Trylight Game Studio adds to and shakes up the puzzles from one chapter to the next. There's a forest maze you'll have to deal with at one point, which is most certainly a cliche of the fantasy genre. However, the way it's presented here is incredibly clever, fully utilizing the panels to not only show you the choices, but also the outcomes. This approach is shaken up yet again in the mines, where suddenly time is completely out of your control. You'll need to hurry and work hard in order to solve these puzzles, an added layer of complexity you don't see in any other puzzle.

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As you might expect, the real standout here is the visual presentation. From the vibrant colors to the unique character designs to the ways the puzzles are implemented, I love the look and art style in Fate of Kai. It's especially cool seeing how differently things will play out simply by rearranging a few words. It's clear that a lot of thought went into not just the story, but also the many dead-ends. I couldn't wait to see where the game would take me next, and there was never a point where I was disappointed with the artwork.

That said, it's this graphic novel approach that ultimately limits Fate of Kai. Because so much of it revolves around these panels, it's clear that the trade-off was the length. Even with more than 700 panels to look at and admire, you'll still have no problem playing through the entire game in around an hour. And because you'll most likely see all of the alternate paths and fails, you may find that there's not a lot of reason to replay the adventure. I couldn't shake the feeling that the obstacles were limited by the art style, which left me wanting the innovative puzzles to be even more ambitious. There are so many more directions you can go with this cool concept, but I suspect that the game's style ended up forcing the developers to leave some of their ideas on the cutting room floor. After all, they are creating dozens (if not more than a hundred) panels for most of the puzzles, which has to be a lot of time-consuming work.

On the other hand, it's because of these panels and puzzles that the game is worth playing. Fate of Kai has a really great story with an ending that absolutely blew me away. It makes complete sense and resonated with me so thoroughly that I suspect it will stick with me long after I've forgotten the puzzle solutions. It's for that reason, as well as the innovative brain-teasers and art design, why I have no problem recommending this bite-sized game to just about anybody who wants to go on a stylish adventure.