Creatures of Ava Review – Scanning To Save The World

Creatures of Ava Review

Worldbuilding is pretty important when making games. A rich world full of cool characters and adorable wildlife goes a long way towards a good game. On the other hand, worldbuilding only gets you so far. At least for me, the core gameplay loop has to be equally engaging. Creatures of Ava presents a vibrant world, but I struggled to stay in it. Something about that essential loop couldn’t keep me hooked. Not the way I was hoping for.

You play an explorer named Vic on a mission to save the various wildlife on Ava from total annihilation. There’s a rot known as the Withering that’s slowly eating the whole planet. But maybe you can stop that too? There’s a nested set of mysteries you need to solve, which is always great. Plus, the writing is full of little moments I appreciate. The locals are fluent in English, which means they can clearly communicate their disdain regarding humans. I found myself talking to each one, just to soak up their various cutting barbs.

I played the PC version of Creatures of Ava on an MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13V. Everything ran like a river, though I immediately turned off motion blur. The game ran fine with it on, mind you. I just truly hate how it (motion blur) looks in action. Otherwise my playthrough was free of issues, big or small.

Crammed With Color

Ava is a gorgeous world. Each region is crammed with color, from the plants to the people. The monsters are designed with their environment in mind while still being cute and/or cool. Villages and temples feel like natural extensions of the landscape. The Indigenous population is decked out in vibrant clothing that feels perfectly suited for the setting. I wanted to explore the whole planet, just to see each region and its inhabitants. You’re even incentivized to do so by the game, which is nice.

One of Ava’s main mechanics involves photography. Your camera doubles as a scanner, so every snapshot means critical new mission data. Thankfully, you don’t need great photos for them to be useful. I’d have been in serious trouble otherwise. Photo data is needed for all sorts of missions, so you spend a lot of time snapping shots of various flora and fauna. But we can’t save these creatures by catching them on camera. You’ve got to actually round them up for the mission to succeed.

This is where the combat would go. But we have a different mission on Ava. The creatures you encounter have been infected by the Withering, and you’ve got to purify them before they can be transported off-world. This involves dodging creature attacks while keeping your staff’s beam trained on them. Once everyone is nice and pacified, a soothing melody lures them to salvation. It’s a fascinating system. There’s no ‘combat’ to speak of, but you have to master several interconnected mechanics.

Gotta Save ’em All

Like the visual design, the puzzles in Ava are all connected. New mechanics open up successive regions to explore, with temples and ruins holding even more to unlock. Every conquered dungeon comes with more mechanical systems to connect the planet and its people. The puzzle design feels organic and baked into the game world. There’s narrative weight behind the new mechanics, which I appreciate. Everything is well-crafted and clever, and yet I never felt hooked.

My dissatisfaction feels like a personal problem. Here’s this beautiful world full of fascinating characters and cool mechanics, and I can’t fully engage. You’re travelling the world, saving local wildlife and solving giant mysteries. The ‘combat’ mechanics are unusual, a mix of nonviolence and constant danger. But somehow, each activity feels a bit too repetitive. Pacifying and saving monsters is a simple affair, but still interesting. Perhaps the constant scanning, scavenging, crafting, and backtracking is where I fall off.

Too Much Simple Labour

Busywork can be soothing, even addictive, if metered out in the right amounts. For me, Ava delivers a bit too much of it to be palatable. I have an absolutely terrible attention span. Simple labours need to be paced just right to keep me hooked. And honestly, I’m getting pretty weary of crafting mechanics in games. If the ingredients for healing are plentiful and cheap, then there’s no reason to lock them behind a set of sub-menus and a constant scavenger hunt.

To be fair, the good parts of Ava are great. Having different songs for different species of monsters is terribly clever. The non-violent combat is an awesome twist, and the writing is spot-on. But I found myself worn down by the make-work in between these sections. Constantly scanning, scavenging, and crafting is a real drag. On the other hand, maybe you’ll find these activities more soothing than I did. You can also pet like, basically every creature you meet. If you’re looking for a gorgeous, well-written, and deeply connected tale of hubris versus nature, this is it. Creatures of Ava is exactly what you’ve been searching for. But bear in mind that some of the work involved in saving a planet is pretty mundane.

***A Steam key was provided by the publisher***