Koira Review
Koira is a touching fairytale adventure about friendship.
Koira. Credit: Studio Tolima / DON’T NOD
Koira, developed by Studio Tolima and published by DON’T NOD, is a heartwarming adventure with charming, handcrafted 2D art. With its music-driven story told entirely without dialogue, the game is a magical experience.
The story is straightforward in its fairy tale simplicity. You are a forest spirit who befriends a puppy. Together, you journey through the magical forest to find a home, helping and befriending the animals you meet. Monstrous hunters—humanity encroaching on nature—stand in your way, threatening to tear you apart from your friend.
Koira. Credit: Studio Tolima / DON’T NOD
The game has no text. Koira delivers high emotional impact using only art and music. The story is told through the hand-drawn visuals and a moving score in the style of Peter and the Wolf, a symphonic tale that uses instruments and themes to represent characters. The approach was very effective and had me hooked through the whole game as it masterfully delivered the characters’ affecting performances.
Koira makes you really feel the friendship between the protagonist and the puppy through heartwarming gameplay sequences that don’t move the story forward, but are just quiet moments that make the characters feel real. Building a snowman. Playing hide and seek. Comforting the puppy when he’s scared. Finding shapes in the clouds together. It’s just beautiful.
Gameplay is minimalistic. You run and interact with objects, which you can sometimes pick up and put down or throw; of course, interaction also lets you pet the dog. You can also call out to him or sing notes you learn from nearby creatures as keys to unlock new paths forward.
The game’s puzzles are straightforward, and Koira provides enough visual cues to figure out what you should do. I only got stuck twice, and it ended up being because of bugs that stopped the game from progressing. Reloading my save and trying again always fixed the issue.
Koira. Credit: Studio Tolima / DON’T NOD
While puzzles weren’t difficult, I found the game’s few stealth segments frustrating despite their simplicity. There are parts of the game where you need to hide from hunting dogs or hunters, but to get by, you need to make noise to distract them so you can sneak by—getting seen as I was making my escape sometimes felt arbitrary. Thankfully, you begin that segment again and don’t lose any more progress if you get caught.
Koira is beautiful to look at. The game looks like a hand-painted storybook, and I loved its bold style, use of color and texture, and simplified characters. Despite being depicted mostly as silhouettes, the characters are lively and expressive. It’s very easy to fall in love with the puppy. I was a little reminded of the gorgeous Neva, though Koira doesn’t reach those heights with its more simplistic style.
Koira. Credit: Studio Tolima / DON’T NOD
I finished the game in around 4 hours. I took my time, relishing the game’s environments and enjoying the characters’ friendship. Koira’s tale of friendship is full of magical moments of happiness, sadness, and heart. Let Studio Tolima tell you a story, you won’t regret it.
Koira is available now on Steam and PlayStation 5.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: PS5
