Should you let this game wither?
Welcome to Creatures of Ava, a unique creature-saver game inviting you to explore a world brimming with wild beings. Instilling joy and wonder, they provide a unique bond that enables you to utilize their skills for traversing the planet and solving environmental challenges. Once peaceful creatures, they now succumb to an unknown infection driving them to behave aggressively, which makes your mission to save them an urgent necessity. Step into the shoes of Vic, a 22-year-old nature adventurer as she navigates through the immersive expedition alongside Tabitha, a composed and astute researcher. Together, you confront the recurring infection – called “the withering” by the local race of Naam – threatening Ava’s inhabitants. The game’s narrative, co-created by Rhianna Pratchett, is a journey of wonder and mystery but also discovery, leading to the revelation of the planet’s captivating secrets.
Creatures of Ava is an interesting game that instead of having you fight enemies, you must cure them of an infection called “the withering” and rescue them from a dying planet. Your character Vic uses a magical staff to “heal” them and uses a flute to tame them and even possess them to do things like destroy barriers, access tunnels and so on. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but you soon learn that it’s easy enough to get to grips with.
You’ll need to play the right notes to tame the creatures, but there is a accessibility option that helps out with what notes to play and for how long, which I tell you…is a godsend. The world of Ava itself is a mixture of jungles, ruins and so on, each is well designed and there even feels like a bit of Metroidvania in its design to come back when you either have the right ability or the right creature to access a new area.
The story itself is well written and more emotional than I had anticipated. There is also some great humour to be found here such as one of the Naam calling your character Stronglegs, only for the legend of her to get lost along the way so that in the next village, she’s known as Stormpegs, there are also hilarious discussions about human love and so on. You’ll be shocked at how badly the Naam talk to Vic from the outset, but they do warm to her over time as she slowly gains their trust.
The visuals are charming a great art style with some vibrant colours and nicely detailed environments. The camera can have a few issues when Vic crawls under caves/tunnels where it bounces off, but these are minor issues.
The framerate can go all the way to 120FPS if you have a capable TV and is steady for the most part, but I have noticed framerate drops at certain points throughout. Voice-acting is decent, though the majority of the game’s dialogue is via text with only the odd cutscene/radio call providing the voice-acting. The soundtrack is impressive with a score that captures the atmosphere well.
The Verdict
Creatures of Ava is a great 8-12 hour adventure that tugs at your heart strings, makes you laugh and makes you want to do everything you can to save the inhabitants of a dying world. It has a few issues with framerate drops and the camera can be troublesome at times, but other than this, it’s well worth a visit to Ava.