Indian games are rare guests on the world stage, and even more so based on traditional Hindu mythology. First studio project Nodding Heads Games combines the flavor of the East, excerpts from the sacred texts of Hinduism and vivid battles with demons in the vastness of ancient India.
A young girl Raji and her brother Golu live a carefree life of acrobats and circus performers, but once during the Rakshabandhan festival, demons come to earth, led by the cruel lord Mahabalasura. Enemies kill all adults, and children are taken prisoner, including Gola. Raji single-handedly challenges the army of monsters and loses in an unequal battle. But a prayer addressed to the goddess Durga brings her back to a life full of strength and confidence in victory. As a reward, she receives a powerful weapon – Trishul. Now Raji must defeat the monsters and save his beloved brother.
Raja’s journey reminds of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time… The heroine jumps on platforms, climbs vertical pillars and gets new tricks and techniques with each new stage. She inflicts damage, rolling around the columns in the air, hits from above, in acrobatic jumps with her back back, rolls and attacks from a run, conducts whole deadly combinations. The opponents themselves appear out of thin air, so it is often impossible to predict whether the Raji is waiting for a fight with several enemies in the next arena, or whether they will simply tell a piece of Hindu legend. At the same time, the game is regularly interrupted by inserts, where the voice-overs of Vishnu and Durga argue or tell another legend about Garuda or the divine energy of Shakti. Playing them is often much more interesting than jumping on platforms or solving simple puzzles by rotating circular puzzles.
Jumping mechanics, by the way, are a little outdated, and the structure of the world itself is as linear as possible. Sometimes the camera interferes with accurately aiming for the jump to the next column, which makes you retrace one section several times and upsets. As well as the obligatory performance of the next useless in battle tricks in local training.
The fights themselves, with a variety of fighting techniques, strikes and abilities, turned out to be quite monotonous, and the demons were boring. They lack detail. You just hit enemies with different attacks, sometimes dodging other people’s attacks. It seems that everything looks bright and fun, but in reality everything is very monotonous. The developers propose to pump the trident, bow and other types of weapons, forcing them to release lightning striking enemies, but this does not solve the problem.
It should be noted that Raji: An Ancient Epic is a very beautiful game. The surroundings are crafted with incredible attention to detail and care, beautiful statues and temples are mesmerizing with the elaboration of the gods of the Hindu pantheon, and the competent use of light and shadow complements the overall sense of magic. Music along with graphics enhances the amazing atmosphere of ancient India. You hear traditional Indian tunes, sitars and flutes flirting. Vishnu’s offscreen voice fits perfectly into the general atmosphere, and the translation into Russian with subtitles is almost perfect.
