Koromi is immediately ambiguous. There was no accompanying documentation for this preview code, so no embargo, was in place. Additionally, there was no family-friendly profile about the protagonist, listing their star sign, favourite things outside of eucalyptus, and bar brawling, nor any other information, except for a store page with no release date. Ok, playing the demo might be the next best thing to do than investigative journalism.
The visuals are immediately striking and vibrant. Wow, this does look like a really good open worlder. Maybe we should go find signs of life and find out what this is all about. After a short stroll to the village, I meet the chief, and he’s wearing a tribal mask. A quick whip of the camera, and so am I. Wait, my name is Unnamed One. Looks like there’s a continuation of this ambiguity. I hope I’m not a bad guy…
Leaving the village changes Koromi almost completely. We’re alone in a desert, and there’s nothing to see or do but flex the platforming aspects, and it is not ideal. Jumping is incredibly floaty, though it doesn’t provide enough distance to clear some of the jumps to nowhere. So, in comes the vert ramp without the wheels. You walk up to the top of a ramp, then run down (continue to walk – there’s no run button), and with enough speed, this launches you further in a fixed animated position with even more float, taking you to the next area.
Once again, I have to say that the visuals are very nice, but there wasn’t anything to write home about until earning the grappling hook of the game. With a quick press of the right trigger button on dedicated spots, you can swing to areas without solely relying on the vert trick. The controls are intuitive enough though takes some getting used to pulling off a landing as you need to position yourself on the rope with your initial jump (you can’t slide up and down until climbing comes in later), then get enough momentum to float to the next ledge. Falling into wherever didn’t create a game over, so there was flexability to learn the ropes. Get it?
After wandering around a bit more in Koromi, I couldn’t help but admire the presentation – in particular, the Unnamed One. Koalas are underused in gaming, except for Stone, so it was refreshing not to play a penguin, panda, or plant. And, while hats remain off for the visuals, including the dialogue UI, the floatiness and basic platforming are quite hard to perform. And, when exploring’ down a very obvious gap that looked like a secret area proved it was simply a hole with absolutely no way to get out, I threw my rope over my shoulder and decided to take a nap. That eucalyptus and swinging take it out of me. Keep an eye out for a demo at some point, as Koromi has some good things going for it, but it will need tweaks on the fundamentals for it to be really good.
