Kenoma: Action Without Action

A charming little game about smashing stuff to see what happens, and really strange individuals. Controlling a woman who can sometimes call herself Ghost, you explore different levels solving simple inventory puzzles and talking to everyone you can come across. The conversations are a definite highlight of the game, with so many of the recurring characters having this amusing dry, heavily character oriented writing that doesn't seem to get old, reminding me of Dave Grossman's work. The puzzles are a fun exercise in exploration, as you can swap between the black and grey worlds to do basic platforming and check out different rooms, and rarely are too hard to figure out on your own. However the difficulty was a bit odd, as I found the more obtuse ones to be in the second level of four personally, and I did run across some few bugs with the save system, which the dev kindly fixed. My biggest qualm is that unfortunately the switching mechanic doesn't get as much use as it potentially could, but as is, you already have a cute effort with two different routes to take your playthrough in. It reminded me a lot of playing Humongous Entertainment games, which is as good as praise I could…

Kenoma: Action without Action is a worthwhile addition to anyone's library for its low cost and enjoyable gameplay loop. While lacking in flashiness, the game holds true to itself by focusing on what it does best, which is atmosphere and writing. The characters are enjoyable and the dialogue, as well as the world itself, are well-crafted. The music is simple but fitting for the tone of any given area, which is important, since it's likely to repeat whilst you're running back and forth solving puzzles. The different endings also genuinely change the game's route, instead of being a 'choose door 1 or door 2 for ending a and ending b', which is a nice change of pace from many other games. There's easily 6 or more hours of gameplay here, depending on how fast you are with puzzle solving; my time isn't indicative, since I played the game without an internet connection.

This was a pretty interesting game. The world-changing mechanics were really cool using them to reach higher platforms or enter different buildings was a truly unique idea. The game has a lot of characters that look strange and weird, which added to its charm. The music was quite good and really made it feel like you were exploring a broken-down world. Finally, the game’s art style was very unique, with a lot of attention to detail, which I really liked. Overall, I had a lot of fun solving puzzles and talking to all the different characters. I definitely recommend playing this game.

This game was really fun! I liked the spirit world shifting mechanic, and it was surprisingly funny. I also like how the game gave me choices that seemed to make a real difference to the story. I did get stuck for a bit, but after finding the solution I can confidently say it was my fault, and I wasn't paying enough attention. The characters are neat and fun to talk to, and the story is interesting. Definitely recommend.