Ayo: A Rain Tale

[i]This review is also published at [url=https://www.grandmasgameroom.com/ayo-rain-tale-review/]GrandmasGameRoom.com[/url][/i] What’s the worst you had to do for water? Forgo a bath for a day or two? Skip laundry for a couple of days? Brush your teeth with bottled water? Or how about crossing the desert, traversing the underworld, and walking through a storm cloud just to get a jug of water? [i]Ayo: A Rain Tale[/i] by Inkline Games aims to highlight the struggles faced by Sub-Saharan African women just to get clean water. Citing a 2016 UNICEF report, Inkline uses the medium of video games to raise awareness about the lack of accessible clean water. Ayo is a desert dweller who finally turned old enough to start venturing out daily for water. Ayo seems to be all smiles about this, never protesting one bit about her task. Her mother, along with the village elder, sends her off and wishes her a safe passage. For them, this is a routine occurrence that everybody must go through. You learn the controls as soon as movement is relinquished – left/right to move and spacebar to jump. The beginning area does its best to acclimate you with the terrain, using tree branches and stacks of boulders as platforms. The game also briefly informs you that purple thorns temporarily hurt Ayo, while red ones will immediately kill her. There are more special mechanics for Ayo to learn later, all of which are introduced one at a time. The first area is also where you learn that Ayo takes a while to turn to the other direction, and that she always clings to the edge of the platform. The cling mechanic is great for the most part – this enables Ayo to reach platforms that seem unreachable. But as the game goes on, the clinging becomes less of an assistance and more of a required mechanic. Platforms are far enough that Ayo is always clinging to it and trying to climb up, which really slows everything down. It’s even more of a nail-biter when the platform disintegrates under her weight. The slow turning, on the other hand, is clunky. Some of the platforms are small and require precise jumps, which in turn require proper positioning. It’s hard to adjust where she stands if she has to spend an entire animation frame just to turn. It’s also frustrating how Ayo is immediately locked into a slide whenever her toe touches a slope. There’s no way to counteract this – once she starts sliding there’s no stopping her. The entire ordeal becomes a very dangerous gamble because the other end could either be a safe area or a pile of deadly thorns. There’s no way to know what’s at the bottom unless you’ve been there before. On the other hand, the camera does not help with the view most of the time. Its focus is fixed on Ayo so it moves up and down as she jumps and falls. It also takes the liberty of zooming in and out. Unlike in older Sonic games where you can crouch and take a peek below, you usually just have to throw caution to the wind as you jump or slide down. When you’re not taking a chance with a camera, you’re having to deal with its attempts to keep up as you move around. It’s discombobulating to say the least. You don’t have to struggle with the camera to realize that [i]Ayo: A Rain Tale[/i] has a beautiful aesthetic. Its art style complements each area perfectly – it’s easy on the eyes but never gets in the way of gameplay. The beauty sometimes can make you forget that you’re there not just to enjoy the scenery, but also to struggle with Ayo. The game is quiet for the most part, relying mostly on ambient sounds and Ayo’s grunts when applicable. The background music plays softly in the background, peacefully existing there until you decide to notice it. It’s there to help you settle into the stage and focus on the task at hand. More often than not, you’ll end up paying more attention to Ayo’s footsteps and other sound effects. Acquired magical skills are also tastefully designed. They’re never flashy and they’re discreet enough to give you a hint of what you’re using. These skills are based on various animals, and the way Inkline handled their presentation from discovery to acquisition is simply superb. After a boss “fight” that starts as sudden as it ends, it’s time for Ayo to finally go home. The sequence of Ayo going home to the heat of the desert while carrying a container full of water is an interesting one. It’s not that hard to make it through, and once you do you’ll see familiar faces celebrating for her return. That celebration is all the more bitter when you realize that she has to do it all over again the next day. And that’s really Inkline’s goal – to inform us that all of these troubles are a daily occurrence for these people. While we as players have the option to declare an in-game challenge as “not worth it,” these girls don’t have a choice. They have to get water because their family depends on it. However, it’s hard to ignore the technical difficulties of the game. Intentional or not, movement is stiff and can get downright frustrating at times. Some of the puzzles are tedious at best and cryptic at worst. If gameplay is the only way to teach us a lesson, Inkline falls short on that task. But when looking through the entire picture, it’s easy to ignore the game’s shortcomings and appreciate it for the goal it’s trying to accomplish. It’s a laudable and valiant effort, and Inkline should continue with these ventures.

동기부여가 전혀 안되는 이야기, 어설픈 조작감, 밋밋한 레벨디자인, 도전욕구를 불러오지 않는 그냥 짜증나는 난이도. 좋았던건 맨 처음 마을에서의 OST뿐. 근데 게임 시작하면 음악도 사라짐.

Rising the water issue is a great and noble endeavour. And, the game target audience is probably between 8 and 13. For a kid it will be all right maybe. The game is slow, there is no music, sometime the zoom is too close and you can't see where you are suppose to land. The mecanics are very old. It is not appealing enough IMO.

Ho trovato Ayo praticamente per caso su steam e l'ho comprato al day one.Il gioco soffre di una pessima ottimizzazione,ma il suo gameplay ed il modo in cui la storia viene raccontata riesce subito a rapirti ed a farti giocare,il breve titolo, in un sol boccone.Il gioco si presenta molto simile a Never Alone (anche se non arrriva ai suoi livelli) ma con una storia molto più semplice: una ragazza deve portare l'acqua al suo villaggio..fine! Le cose che renderanno il tutto emozionante sono le varie peripezie che dovremo far superare alla protagonista durante i vari stage che ho trovato davvero ben fatti e con idee niente male! Lo consiglio vivamentea chiunque voglia vivere questa piccola fiaba che vi terrà continuamente sulle spine!

У этой игры много проблем: * Скучные и однообразные тунели. * Однообразные головоломки, сложные не из-за интересной задачи, а из-за плохого управления. * Искусственное растягивание. Но самая главная проблема, которая заставила меня вернуть деньги - это анимация смерти. В игре где можно на одном участке умирать по 20 раз (вспомним meat boy) анимация смерти длится 2 секунды! Моя попытка пройти головоломку может быть меньше 2 секунд! Но после каждой неудачи я должен смотреть как эта девочка падает на пол на черном фоне, а камера драматично делает круг. И это нельзя пропустить. Плохая игра.

Upon first glance this game seemed basic. However, Ayo: a rain tale is wonderful. The controls are excellent and the graphics are appropriate. The music is note worthy, especially for the title screen. Sound affects are HD and very realistic. I am so glad they didn't make Ayo grunt with every jump (that would've been annoying). Other than that, I found this game to be very charming. Even though children may be more attracted to this title, it is important to state that the platforming is somewhat challenging even for adults due to jump tension and obstacles. This isn't a negative thing. It simply means that the player has to actually try to jump accurately most of the time instead of just leaping carelessly through levels. I also found it nice that the rain drops took a bit of effort to find. I noticed that Ayo acquires familiar based skills throughout the game that afford her supernatural abilities. That was a nice little touch as well. Great job. Nice purchase.

Sem nenhuma intenção de revolucionar o gênero, ou trazer inovações para o mercado de videogames, Ayo: A Rain Tale se preocupa em fazer o básico bem feito. Ao proporcionar uma experiência estável e divertida, Ayo ganha o espaço que procura para divulgar o problema da seca, e sua sequência final, de forma específica, é capaz de passar a mensagem que pretende de forma incisiva. Com o respeito à cultura do local que retrata, tanto em relação à personagem principal quanto aos elementos fantásticos introduzidos, Ayo: A Rain Tale também é relevante por ser produzido fora do grande circuito, no Oriente Médio, e ter seu foco na África. É uma causa justa, e um jogo sólido. Ayo merece mais atenção do que recebeu desde seu lançamento, em 9 de novembro. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Para ler a resenha completa, acesse: http://falange.net/falange-resenha-ayo-rain-tale/ Não deixe de se inscrever na curadoria da Mãe: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/30269360/ Para assistir aos primeiros minutos de gameplay, acesse: https://youtu.be/qDcOQs07E6U

Looks pretty, but ugly controls with hard puzzles is way to refund. Seriously, just fix the controls

Really nice charming game

Fala galera, hoje estou aqui para falar de Ayo, um jogo de plataforma com a temática na cultura africana e como já é de se ver com protagonista feminina. Poucos games tem a temática africana e menos ainda protagonista feminina? Sim e não, realmente o número de jogos baseados na cultura afro são bem pequenos o que é uma pena pois a África é rica em cultura, porém quanto a protagonista feminina em jogos de plataforma já é algo considerável, e esse jogo mostra que elas não estão de brincadeira, Ayo enfrenta a seca em busca de água para sua família, em sua aventura ele aprende lições valiosas sobre sabedoria, humildade e até sobre percistência. A mecânica é bem intuitiva e simples, porém isso não o torna um jogo fácil, a medida em que os desafios ficam mais complicados, você terá que se adaptar com o que tem para vencer e voltar pra casa com suprimento de água. Recomendo.