Kalimba review: Co-op will tear us apart
Xbox One
Co-op has brought me some of the greatest joy I've ever experienced in games. It also frequently leads to bouts of murderous rage. The co-op in Kalimba, a stylish Xbox One-exclusive puzzle-platformer from the creator of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, falls more in the second category, and is more likely to inspire anger and hurt feelings than elation.
Kalimba offers a distinct co-op campaign in addition to a collection of single-player levels. Beware, though: You and your co-op partner must be on the same skill level and puzzle-solving wavelength in order to make any progress whatsoever. If you want to learn who your true friends are, it's anyone who doesn't bludgeon you to death with an Xbox One controller after spending half an hour with Kalimba.
Compared to the narrative-driven Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, itself a puzzle-platformer, Kalimba is much more simply structured. Gameplay is stage-based and features a straightforward series of platforming challenges. Kalimba focuses entirely on its mechanics, with little in the way of downtime in between level segments.
In Kalimba's single-player campaign, you control two totem characters simultaneously with a single analog stick and a jump button. This produces its own unique set of challenges; You might have to navigate multiple platforming sequences simultaneously if the totems are separated, and many challenges revolve around creating space between the totems using nearby hills and divots in order to trigger lock mechanisms that grant access to the next level segment.
Stacking is another key gameplay element that players must master to progress in Kalimba's campaign. When the two totems are stacked atop one another, the figure on top is able to make another successive leap after its partner's initial jump, expanding the pair's movement capabilities. Some progression-blocking challenges can only be bypassed when the pair is stacked or spaced in a specific way, requiring experimentation and an understanding of the game's movement mechanics to proceed.
Each totem can also survive level hazards that the other cannot. A red totem won't be able to pass through level layouts filled with blue-colored goo, for instance, requiring its blue partner to scout ahead and clear a path. Even while you're focusing on one particular totem for the sake of a specific puzzle, however, you remain in control of both totems. Initially, you'll suffer many deaths because you were unable to anticipate that a totem would wander into a level hazard while you were focusing on its partner.
Death is your constant companion in Kalimba. The game is at its best when you can intuit solutions to puzzles and smoothly navigate tricky level layouts, but too often, individual level segments require experimentation and repeated deaths before you can figure out how the game wants you to approach a particular puzzle. The pacing suffers as a result, and while checkpoints are frequent, you'll repeat level segments more often than desired as you work your way toward a solution.
There are several gameplay-expanding elements introduced later in the campaign that help mix things up. One power-up reverses gravity for one of your totems, forcing you to rethink how Kalimba's synchronization-focused mechanics work. Another increases the size of a totem, giving it more powerful jumps and the ability to kill enemies by touching them. These elements help keep the formula fresh, but they bring their own challenges and frustrations. They also require the player to approach established mechanical conventions differently, which potentially adds another layer of irritation.
Kalimba hits its stride halfway through, though, and the final levels require a mastery of mechanics learned throughout its campaign. You'll have to use a large-sized totem to assist its smaller partner at several points, for instance, and some stretches require you to use timed jumps with a stacked totem to stay clear of instant-kill areas. In the last handful of levels, one of your totems is given the ability to float and carry its companion to safety – a last-minute change-up that empowers the player, makes puzzles easier, and ends the game on a positive note overall.
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The couch co-op campaign is another story. Both players each control a set of totems, for a total of four characters that need to be monitored and protected at all times. Due to the added challenge and more frequent deaths, each successive co-op level felt like an intense trial that my partner and I only barely managed to scrape through, bruised and bleeding. While its difficulty curve is brutal, Kalimba feels much more manageable and playable than similar fare like Ibb and Obb, thanks to its generous checkpointing system and deft mixture of dexterity-testing platforming challenges and cooperation-based puzzles.
Still, I found that I preferred gentler co-op platformers like Chariot and Never Alone. In comparison, Kalimba is way too unforgiving and precise, and deaths become doubly frustrating when you add another set of totems to the mix. When the cooperative nightmare that is quadruple-jumping is introduced, easily aggravated couples may end up filing for divorce by the end of the level. While Kalimba's single-player campaign is rewarding when you manage to triumph over tricky puzzles, co-op, in comparison, doesn't feel like it's worth the frustration.
Kalimba is a polished and occasionally brilliant puzzle-platformer that packs dozens of lengthy levels across its single-player and co-op campaigns. Push through its uneven beginning and you'll be rewarded with clever level layouts that stretch a solid mechanical framework to its limits. Getting to that point may be more frustrating than you'd like, though, thanks to its sharp difficulty curve. Kalimba's maddening co-op mode can also be worthwhile, though your partner will need to be at an even skill level and temperament if you're to remain friends afterward.
This review is based on an Xbox One download of Kalimba, provided by Press Play. Images: Press Play.
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