BOKURA is a co-op puzzle adventure game made by Japanese developer tokoronyori and published by Kodansha Games, and is one of the most fascinating co-op games I’ve seen yet. And it’s out today in Early Access!
In BOKURA, you and a friend (or, of course, an enemy) play as two young boys who run away from home and stumble upon a dead deer. Both boys faint, and then wake up to find themselves in two completely different worlds while also existing in the same space.
One player exists in a cute forest filled with animals, while the other player exists in an industrial dystopia full of robots. Not only are the two players’ aesthetic experiences vastly different, but also different in design with one world maybe having obstacles that the other doesn’t.
Not only is BOKURA locked in co-op, but verbal communication is required to play the game. There are “distinct artifacts” that exist in one players world that, while not visible in the other, impact the other world. That means that while on one player’s screen it may look like your game partner is walking on water, on the other screen there is a bridge. Therefore, players need to constantly be communicating with one another to get through.
In a press release regarding the game’s release, developer tokoronyori explains his rationale of the game’s design by posing the question, “Have you ever wondered if the world you see is really the same as everyone else?”. BOKURA takes this concept literally, and paints it with a beautiful pixel-art brush and tacks on an array of different endings that depend on the choices both you and your partner make in your respective worlds.
Developer tokoronyori is no stranger to conceptually interesting games with a unique visual style, as he is also responsible for 2019’s farewell planet, which takes place in a world of machines that believed they were human, and you are the last machine left ‘alive’. It’s a beautiful game that might make you cry over sentient robots, so I must recommend giving it a go.
But in the meantime, if you’re looking for another cool co-op game to play with somebody, why not check out BOKURA? For the next week it’s AUD$14.62 with a free Friend’s Pass to play with a bud.
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