Skip to content

KUNAI

Written By:

Stephen J. Boothroyd
ss_1b737166b94060e71556f25123601a12a1179025.1920x1080

KUNAI / DEVELOPER: TURTLEBLAZE / PUBLISHER: THE ARCADE CREW / PLATFORM: PC, SWITCH (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Kunai is a Metroidvania from indie developers TurtleBlaze, in which you control an iPad-style tablet on legs that picks up a couple of grappling hook weapons known as Kunai. These allow you to traverse the world at great speeds, grappling up walls and swinging around like Spider-Man.

The left and right Kunai are mapped to the corresponding triggers, which allows solid freedom of movement and frees up your thumb to handle jumping, melee attacks and projectiles. The combat is fun and satisfying – you can almost feel the hits, and the downward strikes are straight out of Hollow Knight (which is the ultimate compliment). Like with any good Metroidvania there is a range of enemy types, all with different attacks and weaknesses. New skills and upgrades can be unlocked when you get enough currency, but the more vital ones are unlocked during the story, allowing access to previously blocked off areas.

The story is that you – a sentient tablet called Tabby – wake up in a world overrun by CRT monitors, and you set off to help the resistance fight back to save the earth. After that, the game doesn’t let you get too bogged down with the story, and lets you just enjoy playing. The last chapter does however add a lot more story content through interesting forms that would have been good to have seen more of.

Kunai‘s simplistic retro art style is attractive but never really pushes itself. The world is often bland and samey, and most of the areas lack charm. The first three quarters of the game’s level design is mostly forgettable, but the last couple of zones do improve on this in both style and substance. The music and sound effects, on the other hand, are solid throughout.

Overall, Kunai is a great game set in a world that doesn’t quite realise its potential. Its traversal mechanics are some of the most fun of its kind though, and the combat is certainly up there, making this worthy of your time.

Stephen J. Boothroyd

You May Also Like...

andy and barbara muschietti, aka the muschiettis, teaming with skydance for horror label nocturna

The Muschiettis Launch Horror Label NOCTURNA With Skydance

The It-team are joining forces with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division named Nocturna, THR reports. The brother-sister filmmaking duo known as the Muschiettis – Andy and Barbara
Read More
patty jenkins returns to the star wars film rogue squadron

Patty Jenkins Returns With STAR WARS’ ROGUE SQUADRON Film

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has given an encouraging update on what was presumed to be a dead project, stating that she’s back in active development on her Star Wars
Read More

Comic Book CAPITAL P Launched

Capital P Book One is the first part of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series from writer Sam Gardner Jr and artist Jerome Canty. The official tag line is “A hero
Read More
neve campbell as sidney prescott in scream

Neve Campbell Returns To SCREAM Franchise

In an unexpected turn of events, Neve Campbell is confirmed to be returning to the Scream franchise, after several upsets to the production of Scream VII. It’s particularly surprising news
Read More

The First Trailer for THE CROW is Here

The highly anticipated remake of The Crow has its first trailer, which you can check out below. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven and FKA Twigs as Shelly
Read More

Submit Your Film to THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN AWARDS

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is once again holding an awards programme to recognise excellence in the field of stop-motion effects. This year’s submission fees have also been reduced!
Read More