Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan is the first game from Kiro’o Games, the first game studio of Central Africa. It is an action adventure role-playing fantasy game that takes place on the planet of Auriona. The main playable characters are King Enzo Kori-Odan and his queen Erine Evou. Aurion is a story that follows them on journey from Zama to the many lands of Auriona. It mixes the feel of a fantasy realm with African culture and is one of the best games I have played. This game did not disappoint and is very enjoyable, a 2D game with a lot going for it.
The first levels of the game introduce the player to Enzo Kori-Odan. First as a prince on his wedding and coronation day. Then as King of Zama. Aurion introduces the player to the world by letting you explore the palace and the kingdom of Zama,. During this time you can interact with different characters. This allows the player to only find their thoughts on your succession and marriage, but also learn about the culture of Zama. Even in the very beginning I felt as though I was apart of Zama. Each character has a different personality and the story was relatable and real. A human quality I don’t always find in games.
It doesn’t take long before the combat scenes between Enzo and his enemies arrive. These fights are not easy, and take some skill to master. They are fun and entertaining, even after multiple defeats I wanted to continue. During combat a player also gets to use different fighting combos. Before fights there are guides so players know how to control Enzo and the appropriate fighting tactic. There are of course powers that Enzo can use during combat, magic called the Aurion. The first enemies are the soldiers of Enzo’s brother-in-law who banishes the new king and queen. After their exile they must find allies and learn new skills to save Zama.
As you travel through the different lands the player comes across different people to interact with. Merchants are important for supplies, but the regular people can share stories and give information valuable to your quest ,or an amusing anecdote. Some dialogs in role-playing games are easily ignored or can sound like other games. Its common in the fantasy genre to base stories from European mythology and tales. In Aurion, based on African culture, I wanted to read the entire dialog and listen to the storytellers. The culture of this world is so unique and beautiful. The characters themselves were well developed and human. All the background characters were animated doing things like eating, dancing, playing, and working. Though the non-playable characters are not very animated and moving around they all had different faces and personalities that made them come alive.
The boss fights have entertainment value and are difficult, even in the first levels. The developers recommend an Xbox controller though the keyboard equivalent is provided. I played this with a keyboard and mouse and it wasn’t to difficult. Also I really liked the powers that are manifested with Aurion. Players can heal and use various objects found throughout the world. There is also some very interesting, and at times amusing dialog between combatants. The dialog makes this game. There are also plenty of quests.
Aurion has very interesting graphics, not just the uniqueness of the characters, but the landscape. In Zama, there are what looks like poles with human hands. These little background features create this world, and make exploring Auriona fun and exciting. There is also beautiful background music. No voice-overs but with the entire written dialog it does not hurt the game. I did like that the characters during the dialog parts were given appropriate facial expressions and the characters animated to the situation.
Adoring characters, beautifully rendered background, immersive world, wonderful story and dialog, and great combat makes Aurion a must play game. It’s refreshing to play a game with such a human story.
Hello niiiice review. I can see you really understood our game. We hope you will put this note on our metacritic page please.
This game sounds interesting. Great to see games coming out of Africa and bringing new cultural references.