It’s been four years since Akaoni Studio released its last game, Zombie Panic in Wonderland DX for PC. Who would have thought that Valencia Studio is still playing football? A small team of four resurrected it and created a 2D platformer for Nintendo called Enraged Red Ogre that fulfills most of its premise, even if it falls short of another, less important one.
This angry red ogre performs as the title character and is the studio’s mascot. It’s been redesigned in a very convincing 2D pixel style and beautifully animated to tell a simple story of friendship. Lies and Yokai Demons takes you back to traditional Japan. It’s exactly what you’d expect from this Asian-influenced studio. The visual work is simple on all elements, but it’s well done, especially in terms of characterization and animation. It’s a bit more lacking in detail when it comes to building scenery, but it’s never overwhelming.
Small and cunning, Akaoni has a club to attack the ghostly enemies he encounters while traveling through the game’s eight worlds. Attack range is basic, supplemented by the “launch” attack ability of his traveling companion onibi Blu. He is also able to temporarily infuse elemental spiritual energy by killing specific enemies that drop it. This transformation changes his attacks slightly, but doesn’t change the way you play the game. After all, its real purpose is to be able to complete puzzles that require ice, wind, or fire.
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However, that doesn’t mean Enraged Red Ogre’s action portion is a button-masher, because while the enemies may look typical and slow, they’re actually positioned perfectly on the map and move precisely enough to make The game becomes a fun challenge. This balance between what seems easy and what isn’t is the best thing the title has to offer, and what’s most appealing about it. I didn’t do a kill count in the six and a half hours it took me to complete it (90% complete), but it was two or three dozen. Since they don’t take much punishment and the checkpoints are well spaced out, this isn’t an issue.
Many of these deaths occur during battles with several final bosses in the second half of the game. The first one is easy, but there are a few after that that can get you into trouble if you don’t move precisely. They are benign, harmless monsters, and if all goes according to plan, they will be down in four or five minutes. Anyway, this game is not difficult and you can make your life easier by providing treasures to the blacksmith and charging them with food from the chef on the go. These are the two characters in the protagonist’s small village, and while it’s as simple as the rest of the game, it’s worth mentioning that this small group adds more context to their adventure rather than just leaving it all in the menu.
After completing the game, there are no additional difficulty modes, but there is an endless challenge that returns to the screen: Combo Challenges. Enraged Red Ogre is obviously designed for speed running, but not to complete the game as quickly as possible, just to accumulate as many attacks as possible (in fact, this accumulation increases the “bad blood” of the ogre. But why does it What about being useful for anything other than challenges? Well, no idea since there’s no explanation). This level design aimed at speed is present in the combat and platforming sections, which are rich but basic. The idea was to get a good game rhythm, which has been achieved.
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The Japanese vibe that pervades the entire title, highlighted by its curious and unexpected verses, is undermined by the game’s biggest flaw: the script. The dialogue between Akaoni, Blu and enemies or NPCs is a bit confusing. I understand the desire to portray the protagonist as a traitor with an obligation to coexist with humanity, but the tone simply doesn’t fit the landscape. The good news is that this is a 2D action game, so there’s no need to actually read a word; not even the ones that more or less explain where to go, as the map is perfectly presented to illustrate your way around.
Akaoni Studio managed to make a title that is simple but closed in its proposal. There are only easily overlooked tonal flaws that slightly detract from a well-paced game and keep you from having a great time. All of this is true, no more and no less, which is something many pretentious games fail to do.
