Koan is a very flawed game, but despite all of its flaws, I had a really great time with it; in fact, I think that it might be a bit of an indie sleeper hit. No joke, I played through this game in a single sitting because I liked it so much; it is surprisingly good despite the massive amount of jank.
To start, I found that the game’s onboarding/tutorial was inadequate. I could just be a bit daft, which is a possibility, but things could have been much clearer. Gearing specifically could have been explained better, which would have made the first act of the game far less frustrating. I was struggling enough in the start that I was concerned that I was just going to have to stop playing and drop a negative review, but I slammed my head on the proverbial wall over and over again until I figured it out, and when it clicked, I really started to have fun with the game. It is a card battler that is focused on purchasing cards to use specifically in that round, and cycling through those cards is a central mechanic for completing many missions. It sounds odd, but once I got into it, I liked it a lot. Don’t go thinking that this is even close to games like Slay the Spire or other top-tier deck builders, but it has a unique playstyle that I found to be quite addictive even when I was failing. There was at least one point where I really struggled, and even after failing like 20+ times, I was still feeling okay about it; after all, I just needed one good run of lucky draws (or at least that is what I kept on telling myself). This struggle did show me that the difficulty can feel a bit uneven and, like a lot of games in this genre, the randomness of draws can be really sucky, but it wasn’t the most frustrating thing I have dealt with. I also think this game would feel better with some quality-of-life features, specifically, once you pick cards for your characters when you level them up, you can’t remove or change them, which is particularly frustrating because you MUST pick a card each level, even if you do not want to lower your odds of drawing what you want. Sucks to suck, I guess. I think the same could be said for gear. I wish there were more of it, that I could sell it, and that there was more build freedom, but it just isn’t there. A really important note on this, not allowing for your players to correct builds in any way risks creating moments that either are or just feel like you have soft-locked yourself from progressing. Which could be an absolutely rage-inducing moment for any player, I can’t say for certain if it can happen in Koan, but I definitely felt like it could, which is anxiety-inducing. Also, of note, this game had several glitches with selecting things, soft-locking in conversations, and visual spacing. The game feels rough, but if you can deal with the jank, it is an absolute blast to play.
As for the story, I am a bit mixed. It starts off really weak (things could be explained better early on), but it grew on me more as I went on. The game has an interesting world with some unique ideas, particularly the aliens within it. For example, I like how the tree-like people speak using sign language and connect with each other emotionally through their roots, both very interesting ideas. The overarching goals of factions and characters feel like they are a bit underdeveloped, though. It seems like there was a greater focus on creating romances between characters than on developing them as people and the conflicts around them. Speaking of romances, they are… Interesting… It feels like they tried to capture the sort of romances that Mass Effect has without the 60+ hours worth of gameplay multiplied by 3 games, and it fell a bit flat for me. I am a bit averse to games that are overtly sexual, though, so it is a bit of a preference on my part to be fair. I will still note, though, that the writing of the romances feels a bit closer to smutty fiction over well-crafted romance, which, if you are into that, is great, but I am not. Of all the romances, though, I think Fooloo’s was the most interesting. Their species is just so unique, and it resulted in an extremely odd sort of connection between her and Dan. That being said, Koan has multiple story paths and minor subplots that I didn’t explore, which not only adds replayability, but suggests that my understanding of the story could be lacking somewhat. Nonetheless, I think that the story is decent, but it really deserved at least 2 times as long; however, it is an indie project, so I am not going to judge the game too harshly for it.
The sound design is also a mixed bag. The sound effects are simple but pretty decent; in comparison, though, the music is top-tier in my opinion. I fully intend to see if I can find it online so that I can casually listen to it; I really do think it is that good. The music is not 100% fitting for the vibe, maybe like an 80-90% fit, so it doesn’t quite feel perfect for the game, but on its own, damn, it's good. On the other side of the coin, the voice acting is pretty rough. Dan’s voice is really unexpressive, Riksha’l’a’s recording had a clear echo, and Dancer’s recording quality was just abysmal. The voice acting felt inconsistent, to say the least, so it was a bit of a relief when, after the first act, it just stopped for me. Either my game glitched, or they ran out of time to get all the lines done and just put in what they had, but I would suggest that most players probably turn off the volume for dialogue. A few of the voice acting roles were pretty strong (especially the creaking of the tree-like character, 10/10), so if you are okay with the roughness, there is clearly some talent here that is worth appreciating. In the end, though, that music kept me going; it clearly carries the sound design in my mind.
Graphically, this game is a bit messy as well. The font for the game is not always readable, the mech looks out of place compared to everything else in the game, the UI is a bit of a mess at times, the effects feel out of place and quite basic, and I think that the cards being as simple as they are felt like it was a bit of a missed opportunity. Nonetheless, the other art in the game, like the characters and backgrounds are pretty good. So, it is… fine.
I do think this game is a bit of a mess, but in the end, whenever I write a review, I simply ask myself, “Did I have fun?” And, well, I played Koan for 5 hours straight and felt satisfied with the time I spent in the end, so yeah, this is an easy recommendation. The story is interesting, albeit flawed, the sound design is dragged down by the voice acting and then brought back up by the music, and the game is not that visually impressive, but the game is so much fun! I probably didn’t explain it well, but just take some time to learn it and let it click, and I think that any fan of deck builders will likely find something to like here. In the end, even though the game is really rough, I think it is an easy sell. If I had to guess, this game either went overtime or underbudget, and it sucks that it can be felt so strongly, but that is just the life of an indie dev I suppose. I am so grateful that the developer gave me a key for this game so that I could review it. I would have never found this on my own, and it was really cool to experience such a unique and fun project. Honestly, I came in expecting something mediocre and came out feeling impressed and satisfied. I hope that even if Koan doesn’t do as well as you had hoped, you are still proud of your game because, if nothing else, you gave me an experience that I won’t soon forget.
