PLATFORM: PC, PS4, SWITCH (REVIEWED), XBOX ONE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (SWITCH), TBC (ALL OTHER PLATFORMS)
Inspired by Hindu and Balinese folklore, Raji: An Ancient Epic is the debut game from Indian developers Nodding Heads Games. It follows a young girl called Raji whose brother has been kidnapped by demons. Aided by various gods and goddesses, Raji will need to track down her brother’s captors and defeat the demon lord Mahabalasura in what becomes an all-consuming battle for humanity.
An Ancient Epic is an action-adventure game where the focus is split between Tomb Raider-esque platforming – climbing walls, leaping between pillars, that sort of thing – and combat. Demonic entities appear every so often, and must be taken down by a handful of two-button combos and stylish parkour-style attacks that involve swinging around poles and vaulting off walls. Several different weapons become available throughout the game, and it’s easy to swap between them at any time. They all have unique abilities too, which can be upgraded using orbs found in lesser-visited parts of the world, giving players plenty of ways to unleash devastating attacks onto their foes.
It’s a very linear adventure with no branching paths (although those hidden orbs require some careful exploration), so players will rarely find themselves getting lost. The environments are beautiful, with lots of huge, towering buildings and smaller surprising details like rainbow-coloured sunlight filtering through open windows giving an incredibly dramatic sense of scale, and the soundtrack, which mixes traditional Indian and modern Western instruments, enhances the overall atmosphere perfectly.
Satisfying gameplay, beautiful visuals and themes that are rarely explored in games make Raji: An Ancient Epic an absolute joy to play. It’s a shame that the fixed camera makes it impossible to fully take in the surroundings, but that’s purely intended as a commendation of how beautiful the game is. Hopefully Raji will have another adventure one day. It’s a world that demands to be explored much, much further.
