QCF: Yaga

lthough I have often heard the name of Baba Yaga in various media such as movies and television, I must admit I am not familiar at all about its origins or the impact that the Slavic folklore has had over time. Playing through the latest indie release from Versus Evil and developer Breadcrumbs Interactive shows just how much this tale is revered in culture and to storytellers across the world. I appreciate that Yaga presents an interesting hybrid of hack and slash, choose your own adventure and crafting all into a game that is only hindered by repetitive combat, clunky menus and an overabundance of mechanics. And even with that the game still allows the player to become enchanted with the storybook presentation and branching paths that are prime for replaying and finding all the possible outcomes.

The Tzar takes advantage of poor Ivan and commands him to complete impossible tasks

The protagonist, Ivan is an unlucky blacksmith who has lost his right hand and has faced many hardships in life. Ivan is tasked by his Tzar to complete several impossible tasks or face the executioner; all the while Baba Yaga watches and waits to change the patterns of Fate. However, the player will decide if their version of the Russian folklore hero is righteous, aggressive, selfish or foolish. These traits are the cornerstones for choosing how missions play out and each interaction with characters and villains in the world will have options that fall into each of the four categories. The possibilities to miss storylines based on the character’s selected traits are plenty, and even completing several playthroughs of the campaign will only reveal a percentage of how many outcomes there can be. There is a great emphasis on replay value and the battlefields are also procedurally generated to allow for every encounter to be different.

Crafting is one of the best parts of the game and lets players create different combinations for attacking and defending

Ivan will craft weapons necessary to combat all the monsters that await him in cursed farmlands, treacherous swamps and frigid mountains. The crafting system was one of the best parts of the game for me, finding materials and bartering for talismans to create various combinations that work in combat as well as exploration in the world. It can be quite easy to get overwhelmed and quickly lose all your life if you are not careful and attentive to your health and stamina. Using items to heal or recover stamina can also increase Ivan’s bad luck and doing so to a certain degree will gain the attention of Likho, the same being that created Ivan’s bad luck. This presented an element of difficulty that felt a bit tacked on, and personally I felt should have been an option for harder difficulties or maybe a new game plus option after the first initial playthrough of the game. Bypassing this mechanic was easy enough if you have the right items to use, but it still made me feel like there were just a few too many procedures to juggle all while playing the game. The storytelling and decision making for me were the strongest parts of the game, allowing the player to have their tale come to life and each outcome based solely on their decisions and play style.

Generating too much bad luck can lead to attacks from deadly deities

The soundtrack is all over the place; at times, the music is atmospheric and enchanting and envelops the player into the interactive fable. Then there are times where it feels very out of place and is electronic and synth heavy with DJ beats during the boss battles. It was an interesting choice but at least it was something different, and sometimes it seemed to work well. I can at least appreciate an effort to avoid the same classical elevator music that would normally fill this type of game. The story is fully voice acted and was delivered with reverence to bringing the folklore to life. I enjoyed each interaction with the characters of the world and almost all the dialogue was in rhyme to fully bring that storybook quality to the forefront. Sometimes the text did not match up with the voice acting but it was not often enough to create any kind of disconnect.

There are plenty of interactions and mechanics that players may miss on their first playthrough

The menu systems were less than desirable, however and were often hidden and lacked an intuitive design. I honestly did not know how to figure out what kind of stat boosts, curses or alignment options I had available until I was almost three-fourths of the way through my first playthrough which was roughly about fifteen hours in.  Also, finding out how to equip items to restore life and aid in fighting enemies was not clearly explained and led to playing through a decent amount of the battles without items and equipment that was earned throughout my playtime. Weapons can also break down over time, and it is important to switch out on occasion or risk losing it. This becomes frustrating especially if you utilize a specific combination of weapons in battle that will cost hard to find resources and ore to build again later. Mercifully, you have a normal hammer and hook that at least in my playthrough did not seem to break down so you will have a spare in case things turn ugly. The combat can get chaotic as I mentioned previously and trying to accomplish some complex maneuvers on keyboard and mouse was less than ideal. The game does support full gamepad support on Steam however, so I highly recommend going that route instead of fumbling with the keyboard and trying to find your cursor during the more extreme battles.

The presentation feels like it is straight out of a children's storybook

Ultimately, I was overly impressed with the lengths the developer was willing to go to make this video game adaptation of Baba Yaga and the folklore truly come to life and I was invested very much in seeing my version of the story play out. The player choice and visual style lifts the tale from the page and creates a unique experience each time and is only slightly marred by some of the combat and video game specific elements getting in its way. I applaud the developer in respecting the history and impact of this tale and making the adventure one to remember.