Review | Keen - One Girl Army

Keen - One Girl Army immediately struck my attention with its trailers showing off an action-oriented puzzle game where players can dart through forests cutting down enemies like a knife through butter. Interestingly, the gameplay itself can be rather slow and methodical, which wouldn’t normally be associated with an apocalyptic zombie slasher set in China. However, it's a great change of pace that benefits careful planning and allows the players to soak in the bold, neon, hand-drawn environments.

Cat Kitchen was Cat Nigiri’s previous game was also a cutesy sliding block game, but on phones!

One of my friends said it best when they described Keen as a fast-paced version of the ice gyms from Pokémon, where the player is locked into a single direction of movement until a barrier is hit. Whilst the Pokémon fanbase has agreed that these puzzles are one of the most annoying traits of the series (next to caves), Keen has some rather clever solutions when it comes to modernising this formula, layering weapons and mechanics to keep things fresh. My favourite puzzles involve bombs that tick down with every move, culminating in an explosion that destroys both the player and enemies if caught within the explosion radius, it feels like a new spin on Bomberman.

Arguably, the biggest change to the formula is the game’s “turn-by-turn tactical combat” which would feel reminiscent of Crypt of the Necrodancer if it wasn't for the distance protagonist, Kim, can move in the game’s blocky grid. All enemies adhere to this grid too, moving one step at a time, which starts off being easy as the concept sounds, but makes a lot more sense as a challenge in later levels, where an overwhelming number of enemies, each with different movement patterns and abilities try to gang up on the player. Without careful planning and forethought, you’ll quickly find yourself in checkmate, luckily checkpoints are strategically peppered throughout and double as save points.

Without the constant saving, I would find it a lot harder to recommend Keen. The game has a rather ambitious Zelda-like stage design, with introductory levels having around 20 different screens, full of separate puzzles connected by a central theme. But as the game continues and the difficulty ramps up, the in-game map becomes an essential tool. Puzzles that span multiple rooms can be rather disorienting, requiring specific movements that are almost impossible to anticipate without slowly learning a route by trial and error, halting the fluidity of the game in its tracks. 

Zombies on a train? Train to

Whilst the difficulty feels a little unjustified at times, it’s offset by powers that can only be obtained by completing difficult single-screen stages or by pulling off rather hard challenges. These powers, from what I unlocked, came in the form of consumable attacks that destroyed enemies from a distance or as boosts to health and defence. The latter didn’t make too much sense, unlocking the special stages to get the survivability power-ups requires finding and collecting hidden orbs throughout a level, which doesn't feel worthwhile by time you get to the end of the level.

Outside of the puzzles, there is a surprisingly well-written story involving 8-year-old Kim proving to her ‘Gramma’ that she can be responsible amidst a zombie and robot apocalypse, the plot itself is overtly silly, but the writing feels rather genuine and earnest. Very few games are able to create a convincing child character, even big-name titles like Pokémon and Splatoon have difficulty defining age, making characters more ambiguous with adult-like traits. Kim's scared and snarky attitude towards adults and understated reactions to life-threatening situations makes her a surprisingly grounded character. The story itself has a couple of interesting revelations, but mostly just lends itself to a variety of hand-drawn locales including office spaces, warehouses and gardens with styled bushes and pagodas that are fun to whizz past. 

Please don’t slide into the molten lava.

Overall, Keen works best when it’s trying not to reinvent the wheel too much, adding refinements and fluidity to the sliding block puzzle. The satisfying moment-to-moment gameplay holds up well in a 5-10 hour campaign, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it to connect all the orbs. However, the timing of this release couldn't have been better, with games like Helltaker, the free to play demon saving puzzler, gaining traction, there's sure to be an audience looking for the more substantial experience that Keen - One Girl Army provides.

Review Round-Up:

Pros:

• Tight level and puzzle design throughout

• Chess-like approach to combat works really well

• Hand drawn environments are varied and full of personality

• Some surprisingly charming and witty dialogue

• Satisfying animations

Cons:

• Can be confusing to navigate bigger levels

• Some of the power-ups have annoying setbacks

• Chinese theme feels a little stereotypical

[Review code provided by publisher and Cat Nigiri]