Also known as a relaxed but overly down-to-earth adventure sim.
Aka does not waste an opportunity to tell you that its eponymous red panda is trying to move on from its war-torn past. This throughline is one of the few narrative beats to come out, and other than that, Aka is really all about freedom to explore and interact as you see fit. There isn’t necessarily a shortage of things to do in , but some of these activities aren’t exactly satisfying. The result is a non-linear experience that is too laid back and empty for its own good.
Upon arriving at the first island, Aka is invited by her neighbors to live under the house, and this space acts as a home base for things like beds, bathtubs, fires, and storage chests. You can go back and use the bed to move on to the next day. This helps grow crops. Farming is her one of the primary activities Aka can participate in, but crafting, mini-games, and interacting with NPCs represent other ways to pass the time. The real problem is that whatever you do doesn’t feel very meaningful or rewarding. Quests literally have no rewards. In addition, certain quests repeat, such as cleaning dead tree stumps and rock formations, which make up a separate task for each island you visit. When you get quest completion popups and no tangible benefits, it’s hard to maintain any real motivation to explore Aka’s world more thoroughly.
In some ways, Aka feels like she’s trying to do what Animal Crossing has done successfully. So living, working and collecting is your own reward. But it lacks the charm and sophistication of Nintendo’s latest high-powered franchise. At one point, the bridge I had to cross was clearly glitching, with individual pieces swinging around the screen as if it had been caught in a tornado. The music cuts out and then resumes completely on the game’s frequent loading screens. The game intro he thought even just booting into a cutscene would hang the screen and freeze the Switch.
Even just manipulating a character and doing simple menus isn’t the walk in the park that the game itself tries to uphold. Given the camera’s point of view and the red’s tendency to continue stepping and moving after you stop pressing the control stick, it’s an exercise in frustration to grab an area of the farm and try to water the crops. Picking it up, dropping it on the ground, or even picking an item from your inventory isn’t smooth. If your experience relies heavily on these basic actions, they should be easy and comfortable to perform. One of the few instances where Aka controlled him well was during a rhythm-based mini-game, of course, with no reward at all, let alone a perfect score for completing it.
Aka’s heart is in the right place and could have an audience of players looking for a refreshing, slice-of-life game. Unfortunately, playing the game offers little incentive for Lesser to control how difficult his panda friend is. While it may be true that good deeds are their own rewards, such sayings are not well suited for the medium of video games. There are some worthwhile moments in this world, but they are too few and in between.
