The New Classics #51: Sakuna – Of Rice and Ruin

 

The Backstory: Here comes the second work of Edelweiss, a developer that is basically a two-men team. Their first work, a Shoot’em up named Astebreed, reaped stellar reviews and enviable scores; and so did Sakuna. It’s hard to score a hit with your first game, let alone with two games in a row; that obviously made me curious, and I purchased the pair. Astebreed will wait, as it is a digital-only game; but Sakuna can, and must, be put to the New Classic test. 

 

 

The Game: I honestly have trouble believing that such a solid, hearty game is the work of two developers only. The goodness starts right away with the splendid character art, the humorous dialogue and the zesty story, and keeps going with the tight physics and the slick gameplay. The tutorial alone is a masterpiece, as it tells the story while pulling you in and teaching you the controls. Talking about ‘em controls, they take a bit of getting used to, especially when it comes to climbing walls — but maybe that’s just me, as I’ve had issues with that particular move in various games already. 

 

 

I must mention something important: the game looks much, much better in motion than in screenshots. I was honestly surprised at how ugly my screen captures look, all the more so after enjoying the splendour of the real thing. Beyond that beauty in movement, Sakuna’s gameplay provides a unique feel that can only be experienced when playing it yourself: it’s some kind of fluid, nearly liquid impression that I cannot remember encountering in any other game.

 

 

Sakuna is also one of these (rare) games that manage to tickle my gaming fernweh. I swear my breath caught in my throat when I saw the vista below: I immediately wanted to dive into my Switch screen, and explore that place myself. Not only that, but the feeling stayed with me and kinda grew stronger with time; thinking back on it, my gamer’s heart is filled with a sweet, dreamy wanderlust, and I want nothing more than to play again. 

 

 

Talking about playing, I actually didn’t play long enough to reach the farming simulator section; but I have no doubt it will be just as excellent and polished as the rest of the game. In fact, I stopped right after the first level, for a simple reason: cutscenes are not skippable, and I didn’t want to spoil myself. Anyway, I had seen enough to determine Sakuna’s destiny. Namely…

 

 

The Verdict: For a great many reasons, Sakuna is indeed a New Classic of mine! I can only hope that Astebreed will be just as enchanting, and that Edelweiss will release more lovingly crafted games. As for me, I’m moving on to the next potential cult classic — a gamer’s work is never done!