Koi is the kind of game you’d expect to be playing on a mobile. Sure it’s the first Chinese-developed PS4 title to be released outside of the People’s Republic, but that’s probably the most exciting thing I can say about it. I managed to blast through the whole thing in a few hours, and any puzzles I had to complete were way too simple for my liking.
I managed to stumble at the first hurdle, and apparently I’m not the only one. As soon as you boot up Koi you’re presented with a menu, but it’s not obvious how you actually start up the game. Anyway, after a few minutes of clicking around (and changing the language, not sure if it defaulted to Chinese or if I pressed something) I was swimming along quite happily. The graphics are nothing amazing, but as anyone who’s played Minecraft will know realism isn’t always the key. The graphics are pretty and colorful enough to relax you, and with the soft, soothing soundtrack, Koi is a great little chill out game. I tend to save these types of games for late at night, when all my mates have logged off and I’m too tired to play anything serious.
As I’ve said above I found the puzzles too simple, and apart from finding a fish and leading it to it’s corresponding flower over and over I only counted a few other puzzles, each of which only appears once or twice and with little to no explanation of what to do. I did get stuck on one level, purely because I didn’t realise you had to die, so I spent a good few minutes swimming around and avoiding the dark fish wondering what the hell was going on (I eventually had to check a walkthrough to get to the next part).
There are puzzle pieces and stars to collect in each level so if you really wanted them all you could easily replay any level once it’s unlocked, but I don’t think there’s any reward for doing so apart from the usual PlayStation trophies. Apart from this there’s no replay value, so at approximately 3 hours to complete the game you’ll find yourself bored very quickly. There’s also no multiplayer of any kind, the short single player campaign is all you get.
Summary
Koi is a nice way to sit back and forget about the world for a few hours, but it’s lack of challenge and extremely short campaign make it difficult to recommend as a purchase and it’s not something I’ll go back to in a hurry.
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KOI follows the life of a koi fish who can only return to its owner by overcoming challenges and never giving up.
The once serene lotus pond and rivers have evolved into a world of uncertainty and danger where flowers no longer naturally bloom and the emissary Light Fish have become Black Fish predators, trapped within the darkness that now taints the waters.
While navigating currents that become turbulent and the sewage filled waters underneath the surface, layers of the story can be discovered with side quests including item collection such as puzzle pieces and finding the wise Old Toad.
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