Review: Fate of Kai

Fate of Kai is the perfect blend of graphic novel and puzzle. You will surely fall in love with the beautiful visuals of this game, get enthralled by its surprisingly complex puzzles, be seduced by its beautiful, albeit short, story full of metaphors, and have the urgent need to complete it in one sitting as I did.

An emotional visual landscape sprinkled with puzzles

Fate of Kai operates like a book, and just like when you open one and start reading, there is no tutorial. You are simply launched into the game and click on arrows to turn the pages as a story unravels in front of your eyes (and fingers). You meet Kai, the protagonist, who wakes up in the middle of a sunflower field, and very soon encounters a treasure chest to which he becomes bound, and which rapidly turns into both a blessing and a curse. You neither embody nor control Kai, you simply follow along from chapter to chapter, as he seeks to open or get rid of his treasure chest.

So you may wonder what part of this is a game or a puzzle, then? You do have a tiny bit of agency in the story being told, and that is in the form of words. The world that unfolds in front of your eyes is a very evocative and telling one, but with images only. And truly, words are unnecessary in understanding and feeling the wonderful and powerful storytelling powers that this game has. But, and this is where things get interesting, there are indeed a few words here and there, in speech and thought bubbles. And this is where you, the player/reader, come in: you may alter certain thoughts and uttered words by taking them out of the pages in front of you, and placing them elsewhere.

Become Kai’s guardian angel

The first instance of the aforementioned word-based puzzle is quite simple and efficiently presents you this unique game mechanic. Kai is faced with a huge mountain, and his thought bubble reads “climb.” If you leave it there and just flip the page, you’ll see him climb the mountain, where he’ll encounter an insurmountable obstacle. Here Kai’s thought bubble reads “jump.” You can flip the page to see where Kai’s jumping will lead, or you may take the word “jump” out from Kai’s thoughts, preventing the idea of jumping from even occurring to him – or alternatively, you may even take the word “climb” from before and make Kai climb instead of jumping! You can flip back and forth between the pages, and speech/thought bubbles become increasingly numerous, so options keep growing and presenting more and more of a challenge.

This neat and intuitive game mechanic is absolutely fascinating and fun, extremely simple but leads to more complex puzzles than you can imagine at first! I’ve never seen anything quite like this before, despite being an aficionado of the visual novel and puzzle genres. But beyond the very satisfying feeling when you solve a puzzle, and getting access to the rest of the narrative, the mechanics play a central role in the storytelling itself: how does a mere word affect your entire future? It expresses perfectly the butterfly effect, wherein getting (or not getting) a certain thought can steer your life in a completely different direction.

An image is worth a thousand words

I also love the fact that we are not Kai and do not dictate his actions directly, the player is more like a guardian angel looking over Kai by giving him certain thoughts and spoken words. This idea also lends itself before to the metaphors at hand: Fate of Kai is a coming-of-age story, in which Kai is presented with important life decisions and where he must carry and unlock the burden of his identity, his treasure chest, both a blessing and a curse. The visual novel, with its puzzle mechanics neatly imbricated in it, tells this story powerfully almost solely through images.

I have to admit that I shed a few tears – not only are the story and its aesthetics beautiful in and of themselves, but the puzzle aspects function as tool of immersion, captivating the player who ends up taking part in Kai’s path to adulthood. Fate of Kai operated both as a mirror of my own growth and made me feel like I had to oversee and care for Kai, to ensure his well-being. I felt simultaneously both as Kai himself and as his father or big brother, all because of a few gorgeous images and some unique mechanics.

So short but so precious…

In my view, there is only one shortcoming that this game displays: its length. You may expect to complete the game in an hour or two at most. And while I very much appreciate games such as this one that don’t bear tedious fillers and gaps, Fate of Kai does keep you craving more. But perhaps its greatness is why I crave more of it. I want more of those beautiful pages of art, soothing music, and captivating puzzles. And most of all, I want more of Kai and his growth. I’ve grown very attached to him in this mere hour of playtime. A sequel, please?

If this game is up your alley, do yourself a favor: buy this game, set aside a couple of hours, and immerse yourself in Kai’s story told through beautiful artwork. Don’t let the simple mechanics fool you: the puzzles will get your gears turning. Even if it’s short, Fate of Kai’s imprint on your mind and heart will be long-lasting.