#nikoderiko

Donkey Kong Bananza got me in the mood for a more traditional DKC experience… but I've already played all the DKC games! What is a fan to do? In this case, play a new indie game that unashamedly copies is inspired by the classics. And so here is Nikoderiko, a first-time effort from the Cyprus-based VEA Games. It ticks a lot of boxes and they even engaged the services of David Wise to create the entire soundtrack, but does it have the essence, the soul, the right stuff? Let's find out!

The game opens with a surprisingly grainy CG cutscene that establishes the tone. Niko and Luna are a pair of furry adventurers/grave robbers who loot sacred cultural sites for treasure. Charming. Well, it’s a classic trope. They are thwarted on this particular outing by the cartoon villain du jour, Baron Something or Other, who commands the faction of humanoid snakes known as Cobrings. Thus they embark on an epic quest to re-steal their ill-gotten booty and stop the machinations of the destructive snakefolk, yada yada.

Gameplay is an effective mix of classic Rare and modern Retro style DKC, and I can’t overstate how closely this is adapting the DKC playbook. There are letter tiles, two bonus stages per level (DKC3 style), a DKC2 Hero Coin analogue. There's animal buddies, rocket barrel-type segments, end-of-level button mash fests, and (as of the Director's Cut update) a Lost Secret World of harder stages. Specific enemy behaviours and level gimmicks are lifted wholesale: DKC2 giant tyres, DKCR silhouette segments, the Retro mechanic where you're rewarded for collecting formations of bananas fireflies, plus whole levels that made me go "oh, this is Animal Antics/Stop & Go Station/etc." It's not surprising that musically it feels Tropical Freeze-esque with a latter-day David Wise in the composer's chair, but even the sound design and specific collection jingles are very Retro.

Thankfully there are some fresh ideas in the mix, or at least ones borrowed from other series. The occasional Crash Bandicoot-style 3D segments are a nice change, if not quite as tight as the main 2D gameplay, and most boss fights use 3D perspectives to good effect. Instead of a roll or spin to attack and jump out of, our protagonists slide which can also get them into low tunnels, plus they have a nifty walljump and ground pound (although I wish the latter was bound to a different button so I didn't do it accidentally as much). The pound interacts with background objects in DKCR fashion, although unlike in that game nothing important is hidden in this way, thankfully. You also have a nice hover that can be used at any time.

Niko and Luna have identical abilities and can be freely swapped between on the map screen; simultaneous co-op also is supported, although I didn't test it. They're not entirely equal though as Niko has his name on the collectible tiles, his face on the health potions, and for some reason he's the only one who has ambient voice lines during gameplay?? He will sometimes comment out loud on the level, on enemies, or if you die too many times (there's no life limit here thank goodness, just a death counter), while his female counterpart is entirely silent aside from damage yelps. It's just weird and makes her feel like an afterthought.

There are other quirks that persist even after the Director's Cut update: while you can use the D-pad for gameplay (my preference for 2D games) it is totally non-functional in menus, and I encountered several moments of minor roughness with physics, hit detection, and controls. On the whole though it's impressively solid for a game of its scope, and I can't fault the level design for the most part. The script is a bit weak, trying for quippy and falling a bit short. There's at least two instances where it seems to think directly quoting Lord of the Rings counts as a joke, and all the baddies speak in tedious "simple" English.

The look of the game deserves a special mention; the environments are lovely and detailed, with vibrant colours that make each area feel distinct despite being fairly standard choices for worlds in a platformer. The character design is not as strong in my opinion; Niko and Luna's proportions are a little too far on the anthropomorphic spectrum towards furry OCs (not that there's anything wrong with that) than platformer mascots for my tastes, while the enemies and especially the rideable mounts are overdesigned and quite ugly. But importantly, most everything is readable for gameplay purposes, with hazards and secrets always being signposted well.