Roaming open-world adventures with a dollop of crafting on the side are ten a penny and to say it’s something of a shopworn concept at this point would be an understatement. Enter then REKA. The debut effort from Emberstorm Entertainment, REKA meaningfully separates itself from other open-world crafting adventures thanks to, amongst other things, its unique central protagonist and its utterly refreshing setting.
Rather than taking root in some banal and uninspired post-apocalyptic setting, REKA instead unfurls its tale within a fantastical take on the 19th-century Slavic countryside, where autumnal woodlands spread as far as the eye can see and the overbearing blaze of the summer season feels like it will never return. Making ample use of its evocative setting, REKA puts players into the shoes of its titular heroine who just so happens to be an apprentice to the legendary witch Baba Jaga, an odd arrangement that creates its own opportunities and problems in equal measure.
At its core, REKA is a two-part odyssey. Initially, as an apprentice witch, Reka undertakes her arcane studies from a humble starting point, completing quests, foraging for magical herbs, brewing potions and choosing to help or stifle the fortunes of the nearby villagers who often wander close to the magical conclave. As the game develops, REKA impresses upon players the need to explore and discover through its naturally opulent, procedurally generated landscapes, as all manner of settlements, mysterious characters and areas which abound with stunning flora and fauna manifest in front of your very eyes.
Speaking of opulence, despite the charming and somewhat twee look of REKA’s art direction, there is something of a grave, overarching story at play too. As a close apprentice of Baba Jaga, Reka is arguably the best placed to investigate the various unholy, unsavoury and generally dastardly deeds that her master indulges in on a daily basis. Do you bring to light Baba Jaga’s distressing secrets and gruesome deeds, or do you ignore them and simply choose to live out your life in ignorant bliss as a busy, albeit somewhat complicit, witch. And it is here where the second part of REKA’s design comes into sharp focus.
The second half of REKA is really about fully embracing all things witchy and it’s very much this side of REKA which helps to further detach it from the weaponised tedium that can so easily affect games of this ilk. As a witch, Reka has access to all manner of spells, conjurations and invocations that provide her with the means to affect the world surrounding her. From more subtle spells that allow Reka to simply turn on the lights in her witchy abode (more on that in a bit) or conjure a veritable golden brown tornado filled with the discarded leaves of autumn, to the powerful invoking of ancient arcane rituals to summon the dormant spirits of REKA’s sprawling woodland realm, developer Emberstorm Entertainment knows precisely how to make players feel as empowered as its titular, supernatural protagonist.
That feeling of power also extends to Reka’s ability to influence and control the local wildlife. By channelling her magical abilities, Reka can not only tame the various animals and other beasties that make up the realm but so too can she take them along on her jaunts around the world or even take them back to the bewitching cottage Reka calls home. Supplementing Reka’s skills in charming the local fauna, our talented witch is also readily capable of cleansing evil spirits that lurk in the dark corners of the world too, not to mention aid Baba Jaga in her own mysterious quest to upset the natural order of the world by unearthing a veritable bounty of buried secrets and forbidden magic.
With feelings of inviting homeliness typically tied up with the autumn season, it should perhaps come as little surprise that REKA makes the most of this time of year, permitting players to not only sling a variety of spells as a powerful witch, but maintain their own enchanting abode to boot. Sure, while REKA fully allows players to cosily build, upgrade and rearrange their very own witch cottage however they see fit, it also prescribes a functional side to REKA’s cottage building too, enticing players to invest in all kinds of specialised apparatus that no witch should be without, such as summoning circles, potion brewing pots and much more besides. All of this offers up a wealth of progression opportunities to keep wannabe witches glued to the screen.
In a fashion not at all unlike Studio Ghibli’s endlessly imaginative adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle, Reka’s magical home can also quite literally move across the world too. Appearing like a house sat atop a massive pair of strident chicken legs (because why not?), Reka’s home cuts quite the haunting figure as it effortlessly stalks across the world. More than that, just the sheer fact that REKA allows players to move their home ‘base’ in this way and effectively have it travel alongside them as they explore the game world, means that this is yet another way in which REKA seeks to stand apart from its genre contemporaries, where homes tend to be very much rooted in a single location.
Essentially a cosy open-world, base-building adventure that just so happens to also be a surprisingly in-depth witchcraft simulator, REKA deftly uses its unique setting to properly stand out in a genre that is becoming both overcrowded and oversaturated with far less ingenious offerings. Perhaps where REKA succeeds most keenly is in how it encourages players to become one with and work alongside the world, rather than just blindly mining it for resources in the most trite way imaginable. By giving players the ability to strike up fellowships with the various animals and spirits of REKA’s autumnal realm, not to mention the capacity to grow and nurture all types of life, it really feels like Emberstorm Entertainment has seized on something here that no other offering in the genre is really doing right now.
Of course, if you just want to kick back inside your walking chicken house with a warm brew, and work on the arrangement of your various plant pots, herb racks and potion cupboards while the storm-bruised clouds lazily blow a swirl of gold and brown leaves outside the window, then well, you can do that too.
