Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara

Overview – developed by Chibig, Talpa Games and Undercoders, with publishing handled by Chibig, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is a 3D platform adventure taking place in the islands of Mara. As the brave Koa accompanied by her best friend Napopo, travel the islands on a quest to recover stolen pirate loot. This title is available on all platforms, with a link to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.

Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Chibig for providing the copy of Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara that was used for this piece, via the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.

Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review, starting off with the story. Please note, all images featured are provided by the publisher via press kit.

Story – Koa and her best friend Napopo live in the islands of Mara, an archipelago made up of vibrant lands and locations. One day while visiting Qälis, Koa discovers that pirates have ransacked the island and set up a series of trials across Mara. Now Koa and Napopo set out on an adventure to recover the stolen loot, traversing the islands of Mara and taking on the pirate trials. Can Koa succeed and clear each of the pirate trials that are ahead of her.

Gameplay – Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is an 3D platform adventure, where the player must traverse the hazards and obstacles of each stage to reach the goal. The game is separated into 8 main zones, the home base town and sub stages that are scattered through the Sea of Mara. Players will start their adventure in the home base of Qälis, where they will be able to speak to the residents after playing through a simple tutorial.

After going through the opening segment, the player is able to set out on their adventure departing into the Sea of Mara. At the start of the game, the overworld map will only have the first zone and a sub-stage unlocked, which the player must sail to in their boat. While sailing through the waters of Mara, the player will encounter barrels, whales and whirlpools. When reaching one of the other islands, the player can depart and take on their challenges.

The main zones are often made up of multiple stages, with a boss stage at the end. The main stages and sub-stages have a simple goal to them, reach the end of the stage as quickly as possible. There are also shells to be collected, alongside special objects that players can find hidden throughout stages for players to find. To make it through each of the levels, the player will need to use their platforming skills to overcome the hazards of the stages.

As Koa, the player has access to a simple move set, being able to run, jump, stomp and throw objects. The different abilities that Koa has in her arsenal can be used to solve simple puzzles, including hitting switches, collecting hidden keys and breaking barriers. While making their way through the stages, there are many dangers and hazards that can harm Koa on her quest, leading to death if damaged 3 times.

The dangers that are present in the stages include water and lava that will knock the player into the air, swinging logs and canons that fire projectiles. All of these hazards can damage Koa, or possibly kill her instantly if the player falls into a pitfall. When the player is knocked out, they will be sent back to either the start of the stage or to the last checkpoint reached. This doesn’t affect some progress, like keys collected or switches hit.

After the player clears a stage, the shells and special items collected will be added to the player total, along with the time taken to clear the stage recorded. The completion time of a stage will also tie into a ranking system, where the player can earn medals based on performance. The three medals that players can obtain are gold, silver and bronze, each with a target time to clear the stage under to earn them.

The time system promotes repeated play of the different stages, so players can improve their times and earn the medals. There is even a leaderboard system where the best times are ranked, allowing players to challenge players around the world for the top spot. Also included in this title is a speedrun timer, which will let players test their skills as they attempt to clear the game as fast as possible. This adds a lot of replay value to the overall experience.

When all of the main stages have been cleared, the player will be able to open up the boss stage, which will reward the player with a map piece if they succeed. After clearing a boss and obtaining the map piece, the player must return to the home town Qalis to visit Saimi who will open the next area of the overworld. The more clouds that are cleared, the more places for players to explore will appear in Mara.

Outside of the main stages and the normal sub-stages, there are special challenges and levels that can affect the progression of the game. These include the pirate races, where the player will race against the wannabe pirates led by Mayo and special underwater stages where Koa must swim to the goal. The pirate races will reward the player with small map pieces, allowing the player to open up special areas in addition to the main zones.

The last thing to talk about is the rewards system for this release. During the course of the game, the player will pick up shells, along with fabric, recyclable items and more. These items unlock new things for the player to buy in the different store, which includes clothing for Koa and upgrades to her boat. These extra rewards provide extra replay value, for players who want to explore every inch of the map and zones to discover all of the secrets that they hold.

Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to move onto the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.

Controls – the controls for this release are simple enough to get to grips with, having a layout that is reminiscent of classics in the 3D platform genre. The jump, run, throw and stomp buttons are laid out in a comfortable manner on controllers, but can be cumbersome on a keyboard. The steam software allows multiple controller types to be used, but to have the correct pop ups on screen the player needs to set controls from keys to controller.

Difficulty – generally, there is a moderate difficulty to this title, with the challenge escalating gradually as the player gets further into the adventure. This may be too difficult for some players, so there is a relaxed mode, which gives more checkpoints and eases the challenge. This is helpful but can be annoying as the game will try to change to this after several failures. The biggest challenge is the medal time trials, as they require almost perfect precision to complete.

Presentation – the visual style for this game is very cute and cartoony, with Koa and Napopo being front and center, surrounded by a diverse cast of supporting characters. There is a lot of vibrancy to the world of Mara, which works well with the different characters that are encountered that bring life to the setting. The soundtrack is wonderful to listen to, with a tropical feel to it that makes the overall presentation a treat to experience.

Final Thoughts – I had a great time with Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara, the platforming is a lot of fun, the level layouts can become very challenging, especially with the speedrun aspects. The setting and characters have a lot of vibrancy to them, with the narrative scenes featuring Napopo being rather adorable. The variety of the sub stages, mini games and the cosmetic rewards adds a lot of depth to the title, keeping the experience fresh throughout.

I am very happy to recommend this title to everyone, it is quite possibly one of the best 3D platform titles to be released by an independent developer/publisher. This is one of the few kickstarter successes that I have seen and played, which makes this a special title as the chances to cover these are few and far between. I may even pick up one of the other versions of the game, as there is even a physical release for the switch on the way.

In the end, I give Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara a final score of 5/5. This is one of if not the best 3D platform adventure to come out recently, the characters and world is vibrant, the platforming is fun and there is a tremendous amount of replay value for those who gotta go fast. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.

Link to Steam version (HERE)

Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)

Link to PlayStation version (HERE)

Link to Xbox version (HERE)