Jump to content

Hoa Review


Eliwood8

Recommended Posts

1824553331_Hoaboxart.jpg.50afbc2904876943cf9f7faa70d9698e.jpgSometimes all you want out of a game is a serene experience, something with which you can relax and not feel stressed out about. Hoa's vibe fits that bill, with an extremely chill atmosphere and a gorgeously soft, dreamy art style. In this case though, the game might be a little too relaxed, leading to somewhat bland gameplay design.

 
I'll get the obvious out of the way first: Hoa is a beautiful game. The hand-painted artwork is reminiscent of Studio Ghibli's work, and just like many of their animated features Hoa has a wonderfully serene atmosphere that just makes you want to take a stroll through nature. Aside from the gorgeous backgrounds, the game's characters are also delightful, from the tiny fairy protagonist to the massive creatures you'll encounter. The animation is a tiny bit choppy but for the most part it's easy to ignore as you walk, jump and swim through lush environments. The orchestral soundtrack is just as stunning, full of soothing emotion with just a touch of melancholy.
 
1081114807_Hoafireflies.thumb.jpg.1ea08f5152a1f45d4571cdbd5c38d709.jpg
 
At a glance you might assume that this game wouldn't have much storytelling at all, but the creatures you encounter do speak and the first thing you learn is that you've just returned to the land after an unspecified absence. Your goal seems to be to reconnect with the creatures you once knew but the actual story is purposefully vague. Although you're left in the dark for much of the game the ending still has a good impact and a valuable message.
 
Hoa is pretty much purely a platformer—there doesn't seem to be any way to die or fail in the game, and the only enemy you encounter just pushes you away instead of damaging you. What that means is that Hoa is a relaxed, chill experience. When the adventure begins all you can do is jump and you have to find some creative ways to overcome obstacles, but gradually you unlock new abilities that add slightly more complicated platforming challenges. The game is never all that difficult though, certainly not to anyone that has played virtually any platformer before. Jumps, double jumps, pushing rocks—there aren't exactly any breakthrough platformer ideas at play here. To be fair though, even if the game is pretty simple it generally does its simple gameplay elements well, which might make Hoa well-suited to younger players.
 
2049829912_Hoaspirit.thumb.jpg.0be94394325d65e84ddf61c9b77fa0d3.jpg
 
There are a few flaws and quirks that bring down the experience though. Despite being a fairly simple platformer where all you really do is jump and move around, the controls can be slippery, which doesn't feel great for some of the more precise platforming sequences. The game's extremely short length might put off some players as well. You can easily finish in just two hours, maybe three at most, and since there are no additional or optional regions of the game there's not much replay incentive. Each region is also fairly small and relatively linear; sometimes you might have a choice of going left or right, but in the end you have to go down both paths anyway. Finally, the game did have a glitchy issue on the Switch which almost spoiled my whole playthrough. At one point I fell through the scenery and had to reload the game, but it just put me in a black void (there are also no manual saves, just autosave checkpoints). I fixed it by starting a new game then reloading again which put me back on course, but that was still a pretty sloppy glitch to deal with.
 
412863903_Hoafish.thumb.jpg.290c397bf9527f74c5382dc4bbab2998.jpg
 
Hoa is a gorgeous game with a fantastic soundtrack that doesn't quite have the gameplay to back it up. There's nothing wrong with a short, relaxed platformer, but in Hoa's case some tighter controls and more engaging gameplay elements, whether in abilities or just the chance to explore optional areas, would have done wonders for the experience. If you don't mind the lack of challenge though, Hoa is a beautiful little stroll of a game.
 
Rating: 6 out of 10 Butterflies
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...