Creatures of Ava Review | PC

Well, it’s happening; cozy games might actually become more prevalent in the gaming industry, and it looks like Inverge Studios will lead the charge for this paradigm shift. Now, all studios start somewhere, and this Spanish developer started off with simple mobile releases like Cube Beat and Hyper Switch in 2017.

They eventually took the plunge and started the real journey to the top with Effie. A little development time later and several upgrades, Effie was released into the wild in 2019 and garnered quite a positive reception, but Inverge Studios kept the momentum going by starting development with Chibig and 11 Bit Studios for Creatures of Ava.

 

Fast-forward to now, and we got to have a little peak at Creatures of Ava, and we might as well say this now; you’re in for a hell of a ride right from the start. Your adventure starts with a very anime-styled cinematic that introduces you to Vic, a curious nature explorer with a mission to put an end to the Infection. However, while orbiting the planet of Ava, something goes wrong, and she’s forced to crash land on the planet's surface, officially starting your wild adventure.

Naturally, you’ll need some form of healing after a major crash landing, but that’s easily taken care of as you get a feel for the strange world you’re in until you eventually meet Nim’ar, one of the native inhabitants of Ava; known as Naam.

Now, Nim’ar is also an archaeologist, and you stumble upon him while he’s on the hunt for an ancient artifact that’s rumored to have the ability to cure the infection, or the Withering as the Naam says. So, after some exploring, you’ll eventually find the Nafitar alongside the discovery of a little ancient technology that might be Ava’s only hope, but you’ll have to gain the trust of the Naam while discovering Ava’s secrets.

Something to keep in mind with Creatures of Ava is that it’s not quite a monster-catcher; it’s a creature-saver. The reason behind this is that it relies on non-combative gameplay to essentially save the creatures you come across by playing their unique songs with a flute; however, there’s a lot more to Creatures of Ava than just saving the creatures.

You’ll also have to convince the Naam to join you and flee their dying planet, but that’s easier said than done, and they also know more about the Withering than they’re letting on. So, with the Nafitar in hand and a whole world to explore, you’ll have to set out to complete your mission and maybe learn a few things about the Naam’s unique customs, all while discovering more about Vic’s troubled past that seems to haunt her.

 

Creatures of Ava takes on a different approach when compared to the normal monster-catcher releases like Cassette Beasts or Pokémon, but while you will be rounding up the various cute and adorable creatures on your journey to save them, each species comes with a unique ability that will help you in long run as well.

However, before you can jump in and start saving everything, you’ll need to master their songs. This is where things take an odd turn that you’d think would be an absolute pain, but it’s somehow really smooth. Meet the notation radial, which you’ll need to use to mimic their songs, one note at a time.

Taking on the role of the Pied Piper, you’ll need to lead the creatures to the rescue drones scattered all over Ava, but you’ll get an extra perk with your flute skills, Ava Vision. Leading the creatures to safety is one thing, but being able to take control of a friendly creature changes things for the better since you’ll have to think outside the box to open new paths or uncover hidden items.

There are endless possibilities as long as you keep an open mind and keep an eye open for places of interest. You never know what you might find. Granted, not all the creatures you find will be friendly… Or approachable without some struggle.

The Nafitar isn’t just good for clearing away the Withering; some creatures will also be infected and aggressive towards you, and you’ll need to cure them before you can rescue them. Though this is easier said than done; as you’ll need to dodge their attacks.

While this is an unexpected turn of events, it does still count as a nice change of pace between harvesting plants and collecting creatures. However, things will definitely become more difficult as you progress, and the creatures will develop an armor of sorts that you’ll need to break with an ability called Krist.

 

On the matter of abilities, aside from using creatures to open new paths or to further your exploration, you’ll have to use the Nafitar too. The Wither is everywhere and curing the plants that block your way is easy, but you’ll need to add an extra layer of possibility with the Nafitar’s abilities such as Krist.

Naturally, things will only get that much better once upgrades are involved, though you’ll technically have skills and upgrades, and this is where the magic happens. As you’d expect, you’ll have access to what looks like a simple skill tree. However, Creatures of Ava has a slight roadblock up its sleeve that makes progression look deceptively fast, but gaining skill points is actually painfully slow.

The slow skill points gain is a double-edged sword that might discourage people, though it makes sense as to why it was done like this; every creature you rescue or quest you finish will give you research points. Here’s the catch – it only looks like things move fast at first. but you’ll have to keep in mind that there are still other regions to unlock and explore.

Granted, you’ll spend a fair bit of time in each region because you’ll need to finish the rescue mission along with the story quests before you can move on to the next region. So, your adventure starts in the Nari Jungle, and as you progress, you’ll end up exploring new areas. Unfortunately, there is one tiny issue that will annoy most people.

The issue in question is crafting and your inventory. There’s always that select group of hoarders that likes to pick up every crafting material that isn’t nailed down, effectively clogging their inventories… And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s always great to be ready to craft some more consumables for health and stamina.

However, your inventory is supremely limited and each region has its own crafting materials that can give you the same items, so there’s no point in carrying items for both areas. While there is the option to store your materials at a campfire, having everything automatically transfer over when you visit a campfire would be great instead of running the risk of sitting with a full inventory.

 

To save the best for last, we have to give props for the attention to detail and just how much thought went into creating a full-scale culture for the Naam. You’d normally get the generic treatment or a watered-down version of events that fills the gap, but Inverge Studios went above and beyond with this one to create the Naam.

However, there are also signs of where they drew inspiration from African cultures in terms of building designs and such while the people themselves seem to have roots tied to the Bantu through the use of masks. However, this is purely speculation, and everybody is entitled to their own opinion in this case.

On the visual side of things, Creatures of Ava follows a similar atmospheric world design to Effie, though with a lot more on offer when it comes to exploration. Where Creatures of Ava really shines is with the unique designs of the creatures you save and the differences between tribes.

These might be seen as small things, but every detail helps build a great atmosphere that will definitely keep you interested and wanting to explore. On a different but very short note – Best. Cinematic. Intro. Ever. Going for an anime cartoon style for the opening is enough to catch anybody off guard, but you know it’s great if you can feel what’s going on from an emotional perspective.

So, get ready because this is going to get a little crazy, but words can’t explain how blown away we were by the sound engineering and music for Creatures of Ava. The background music is quite literally the best part of Creatures of Ava simply due to how touching it is. The use of traditional music blends really well with the overall theme of this release, but it gets even better when you start playing the flute because it adds a whole new layer to the atmosphere that already keeps you hooked.

On a different note, there is some voice acting, but it seems to mostly be for story conversations or random prompts when doing puzzles. While the voice acting is a brilliant touch that breathes some life into the world, a little more would keep things consistent.

 

Overall, Creatures of Ava will, without a doubt, go above and beyond to get you hooked on its story and visuals, but it’ll just keep adding on as you explore and see more of Ava. Between the already stunning visuals and inspired music, it’s already set up to be amazing, but it keeps getting better as you progress.

While there are some really small issues, they’re easily overlooked, even more so with the fact that you can pet/hug all the creatures. It seemed necessary to add this since petting the dog in a game became a requirement. Well, there’s a whole world of cute creatures to pet.
 

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed