Have you ever wanted to run away to the
forest, pledging your service to a mysterious old woman while you
learn the craft of potion making and spell casting, all the while
traversing the countryside in a chicken-legged hut? I mean,
rhetorical question obviously, because who hasn't
wanted to do that? Well, soon you'll be able to in REKA, a game
inspired by the Slavic legends of Baba Jaga. I recently got access to
a very early playtest,
and I'm so excited for this game, so let's take a look at what's in
it even at this early stage! As a note, REKA is set to release in
2024, will be available on both PC and consoles, and is developed by
Emberstorm Entertainment, an indie game studio from Germany.
First off, the devs confirmed that there's no official pronunciation of the title, as it's taken from a variety of Slavic languages, so you'll probably hear me and other content creators pronounce it every which way – Reeka, Reyka, Wrecka. None are wrong! And since there was a big discussion about it in the game's discord server and I was wondering about it myself, I thought I'd clear that up first. Okay, now let's talk about the gameplay itself!
This playtest is small, focusing on the very start of the game and making sure everything functions as intended. It all takes place in one area, although you'll have access to a lot more when the full game releases. You'll also have full character customization upon release, although right now that doesn't exist. Still, despite the limited scope of this playtest, there's surprisingly a lot to do already, and it kept me busy for about 3 hours on my first run alone – and I didn't even do everything in that single run. If this is just a very small sample of the game to come, this game is going to be huge, full of quests and exploration to keep you entertained for a long time.
I was so happy to see that we had complete freedom from the very moment you load into the game – I guess you're supposed to follow the path into the village to be given your first tutorial quest, but I immediately stepped off the path to explore the river nearby and the forest it led to. I explored for a good half hour before finally accidentally triggering the quest from a completely different angle. I loved this! I'm all for a good tutorial, and the game does provide that, but I want to do it at my own pace, and my ADHD brain always wants me to explore first. So I appreciate when we're not forced into the tutorial first thing. That already speaks volumes about the freedom we'll be given in this game. Additionally, for those who do tend to wander to the point of getting lost, don't worry about losing the guy with the starter quest. Thankfully, he's in a prominent location and is automatically triggered when you get close enough, so you don't have to go hunting for him when you do want to start questing.
The tutorial itself guides you through the quests that get you set up with Baba Jaga – finding a talisman, foraging supplies, getting a chicken. All this is fairly simple, but gives you an excellent excuse to explore the landscape even more. The forest is full of random treasures, so you are well rewarded for going off the beaten path! And once you've done all that Baba Jaga asks of you, you're given the ultimate reward – lifelong service to her! Oh, you thought I was going to say chicken-legged hut? Yeah, I guess you get that too.
Building your house uses a modular mechanic that's popular in many current games. I was a bit apprehensive about it, because I have a ton of trouble with this style of building in No Man's Sky, but happily, the process was much smoother in REKA. Actually, the only problem I ran into was that my plans were grander than the initial amount of wood that the tutorial provided. Obviously, the full game will provide a lot more wood to build the chicken-legged hut of your dreams. But even with my grandiose vision being squashed, I was impressed with how simple and easy building is already. I can't wait to start really building my dream hut in the full game!
In addition to Baba Jaga's forest, we're able to visit a small village in the playtest. Some of the villagers have quests to fulfill, giving us a taste of the tasks we'll be doing as the forest witch's apprentice. While none of them were very hard, I accidentally made one way more difficult than intended because, earlier, I had picked up the baby goat and carried it on my explorations, and then couldn't find where I'd left it. Oops!
As one last note on this early glimpse of REKA, the music is amazing and fits the setting so well. It's eerie but not creepy, cozy but also atmospheric. I love it so much, and would keep the game open just to listen to it. I need a soundtrack ASAP, please!
All in all, this early glimpse of REKA has been great and speaks of amazing things to come. What are you most excited for that we've seen so far? I can't wait to continue playing and covering this game as it develops!
And as one last thing, if you're interested in traditional Slavic witchcraft inspired by Baba Jaga, I highly recommend Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft by Madame Pamita.
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