(Review) Raji: An Ancient Epic

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The Short Version:

An engaging and visually stunning action-adventure game with heavy ties to Hindu and Balinese mythology, Raji: An Ancient Epic is a fantastic title for those with a platformer itch that needs tending to.

With authenticity comes immersion, and Raji executes that facet perfectly. Its attention to detail, both in making an immersive experience alongside a gripping narrative, make it stand out amongst the crowd. While issues are present, it is incredibly difficult not to recommend it.

Pros:

-Gorgeous visuals

-Spectacular level design

-Compelling storytelling

-Engaging combat

-Mostly smooth parkour mechanics

Cons:

-Abrupt ending

-Lacklustre skill system

-A few bugs

My Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

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Thrown Into a Divine Conflict

Raji: An Ancient Epic is a top-down, action-adventure game taking place in ancient India where a demonic calamity has taken place, creating conflict and destruction across the land. The story follows Raji, a young acrobat in search for her brother, Golu, who was kidnapped by the invading demons.

What starts off as a simple ‘find a missing person’ quest eventually becomes something much more significant. Raji has been chosen by the gods Durga and Vishnu to be the one to resolve the catastrophe, as it intertwines with her mission to rescue her brother. With their guidance, she travels across the country, fighting off any foe she encounters with powerful weapons gifted from the heavens, in order to defeat Mahabalasura, the root cause of all of this evil, who is also keeping Golu in captivity.

It doesn't take long for the gods to recognise your significance and gift you with devasting tools of destruction. Quite trusting aren't they?

It’s not a long story, and far from a complex one, but it’s still engaging from start to finish. I found it easy to sympathise with Raji, and the dialogue between Durga and Vishnu was entertaining to listen to. What was perhaps even more interesting was learning about the Hindu and Balinese mythologies. In various parts of the levels, you can interact with paintings depicting tales of different gods. They don’t have a direct connection to the main narrative, but they expose you to folklore that, chances are, the majority of players haven’t heard of. Regardless, they help immerse yourself into the setting.

The authenticity doesn’t stop there. Possibly one of my favourite aspects of Raji is the way that cutscenes are presented. Before the game’s opening events, Raji and Golu were circus performers. Where Raji would perform as an acrobat, Golu would tell stories using shadow puppets, a method of storytelling believed to originate in India.

Whoever came up with the idea of using shadow puppets to depict major story sequences is a downright genius. This is something that makes Raji stand out amongst its genre.

After he is taken by the demons, the majority of story-related cutscenes are displayed using this very form, and the end result is nothing short of fantastic. Their striking designs and beautiful animations make them hard to look away from. It is an incredibly unique approach that not only makes the game feel more accurate to its setting, but also reflects Golu’s character. These small details are present in most areas of Raji, and they help it stand out from the action-adventure crowd.

When it all comes together, the narrative feels refreshing and compelling. Unfortunately, the ending concludes on an anti-climatic note. In fact, quite literally, the credits come out of nowhere. It finishes at a point that feels like the middle of the game more than anything else, which is a shame because everything leading up to that point was brilliant. It doesn’t detract from the rest of the experience, but it’s disappointing all the same.

Exploring What Ancient India Has to Offer

Taking a quick glimpse at some of the screenshots, it is easy to spot Raji’s colourfully picturesque art direction. It is without a doubt one of the best-looking games I’ve played in a while. Almost every frame is screenshot-worthy.

This art style is further complemented by the exceptionally top-notch level design. Each location you travel to is breathtaking in some way, whether it’s thanks to the gloriously expansive set-pieces or the beautiful and lush landscapes. It's easy to get distracted by how good the game looks.

I could probably spend ages sitting around, taking screenshots. If only the game had a photomode option of some kind. Regardless, beautiful vistas like these are plentiful.

What makes these maps even more charming is the atmosphere. Dozens of animals roaming around an area, various particle effects alongside running streams and rivers, as well as other objects moving in the background make them feel more alive and vibrant. The music, although slightly repetitive at times, also does a good job at enhancing this, with the usage of appropriate and accurate instruments adding to the already stellar authenticity.

Considering that parkour is a key feature, climbable areas have been seamlessly implemented into the environment in a way that is, most of the time, easy to progress and navigate through.

There isn’t a great deal to interact with, as you’re encouraged to follow the path forward and progress through the narrative. That being said, there are a few things to find that are scattered across each level. One of these areas of interest are the memory puzzles, that involve piecing together a fractured image by rotating wheels, resulting in a brief recollection of Raji and Golu, when they were younger.

Interactions like the memory puzzles don't provide you with any physical rewards, but they do help you sympathise with the two main characters more by giving you further insight to their relationship.

Due to the linear nature of the game, finding things such as these are quite hard to miss, and since there’s an absence of collectables, there isn’t much in the way of replay value after completing the main story. Nevertheless, I didn’t see this as a bad thing, as I felt that the experience as a whole was more than satisfactory.

Mastering the Tools of the Gods

There are two categories that make up the majority of the gameplay mechanics, those being parkour and combat. Both have a few issues relating to polish and refinement, but for the most part, they are engaging.

As stated before, Raji performed as an acrobat prior to the opening events. This attribute, however, isn’t forgotten after its introduction. Your character is fast and flexible, being able to hop and bounce her way around enemies and across high vantage points.

When everything goes smooth, Raji becomes quite the show off when it comes to climbing and reaching dangerous heights. When it glitches out, it almost feels like karma.

Of course, that is the case when she isn’t getting stuck on things. One of her weaknesses is something you might not expect: staircases. There will be times where moving up that extra step is just too much for her, so she’ll just stop and ignore your every input.

Put simply, the game contains a few collision-related bugs that can have a noticeable impact on your movement. The solution to the stair problem is to perform a dodge roll up it. Other issues include phasing through a wall, not being able to climb up to a specific platform easily, and scaling up a wall, only for the character to jump in the opposite direction instead of grabbing the ledge.

"Hey game, I want to go ahead and jump to the left. Please let me do that. Don't make me jump in a completely different direction. Thank you."

It’s worth noting that, while these bugs are numerous, they’re not too impeding, and they're infrequent enough to not ruin the parkour entirely. Still, if this area had more time and refinement, these issues could’ve been avoided.

Moving onto the combat, this is an area that I really enjoyed. It’s a system that prioritises speed and maneuverability over heavy-handed attacking. Right from the get-go you are given a variety of movesets to utilise; the more static ones such as basic and strong attacks deliver more accuracy, but ones that involve bouncing off walls and engaging from off the ground give you a wider range and a higher chance of survival.

Staying on the ground is a sure way to die quickly, so you're encouraged to use the environment to your advantage. The intensity provided by these fights keeps you on your toes.

This results in confrontations that feel gripping and intense. Attacks are flashy and dramatic, and fights that contain numerous opponents that can easily overwhelm you if you stay in one place can have you on the edge of your seat. Then there are the boss fights that take things to a whole new level.

To keep it interesting, you have access to three unique weapons, with each one becoming available to you upon reaching certain points in the story. You start off with a spear, then overtime you are given a bow, and then a sword & shield, with each containing their own movesets and advantages.

Since these are the weapons of the gods, their designs reflect that fact with their sharp appearances and flashy attachments. Each weapon packs weight and feels satisfying to use.

Then there are the elements that can be applied to these weapons: electricity, fire and frost. Assigned to these are three abilities that can help turn the tide in combat. This is the only major area of criticism that I have for the combat. All of the elements have the same abilities, but each time you assign a skill point to one ability, you are only giving it to that specific element, and not all three.

The only noticeable difference between the elements are visual effects. From a gameplay perspective, they are all the same. What this means is that there’s no reason to assign skill points to different elements. You might as well just use one specific element and put everything you have towards progressing it. It would’ve been better to have the game automatically assign an element to each weapon, and not let you choose which one goes where, or they could've had different abilities.

It's also worth noting that the interface for the skill system is not exactly intuitive. It looks pretty but it's confusing to navigate at first.

Alas, this is just one complaint amongst a plethora of praise and positive things to say. Technical issues and lacklustre areas aside, the gameplay as a whole is fantastic. Finishing the game took four and a half hours, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

With that in mind, Raji: An Ancient Epic is a must-have for anyone looking for a good action-adventure/platformer with an engaging storyline. It’s connections and representations of Hindu and Balinese mythology also make this a unique and interesting experience, one that I wholeheartedly recommend.

So many potential desktop wallpapers...

Technical Details:

My PC Specs: Operating System: Windows 10 Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Graphics Card (GPU): Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Memory (RAM): 16GB Performance: Smooth experience capped at 60FPS with only occasional stutters here and there.