You are a young teenage girl called Reka who comes across a witch named Baba Jaga. You seem to have some basic knowledge of magic and so become Baba Yaga’s apprentice after helping create a Baba Yaga to live on and travel the world.
Lately, I’ve been playing several mobile games, and one of my favourites is Fortress Saga. So when I came across Reka, I was quite delighted to be able to play another game with Baba Yaga in it.
When the game loads, the title screen really sets the scene with its soft, gentle music and the behind-the-scenes shot of a figure (likely Reka) looking out towards a forest with birds and leaves flying around. It helps bring forth the magical feelings you expect from this game’s world.
As I usually check the settings to ensure I get the most from the game, I was glad to see a good number of settings to mess with. I was happy to find the ability to change key bindings for controls, which can be a plus. A changed binding will update the instructions in the tutorial, which was surprising as many games will show only the original bindings.
I was glad to see there are three save slots (I like this; I kind of wish Alan Wake had this), and then I get a lovely background and some words to set the scene of how the world is changing and moving away from the old ways with magic, spirits and myths. You are then in character creation to create your version of what you want Reka to look like. It is a basic creator but quick and easy to use. Once you are done, you are alone in a small world with darkness around you… this place is the basic tutorial area. Once you run out into the darkness, the tutorial is done, and you are in the world.
So, this is the real beginning of the game. You are a young teenage girl called Reka, and you have been travelling by foot… can you go back? No, the fog walls stop you. You can only go forward. But yet, there is a lot of freedom in how you can go forward. You could go straight to the village or travel around the village you see a few ways ahead and randomly explore till you end up at the village or Baba Yaga’s house.
I like going to the village, helping a young girl find a lamb and then just walking off with it to Baba Yaga’s (There is no reaction to this, and the side quest is complete, but I just find it funny I can do this with no consequences).
At this point you cannot keep track of your side quests, you can only do so once given a notebook.
Now, meeting Baba Yaga is when the main story starts, and you get introduced to some cute little wooden creatures called Lutki. Now, these little guys are adorable, and I attempted to get one into my house later in the game, but sadly, I couldn’t. (I just realised I’ve tried kidnapping two creatures in this game).
After doing a few things for Baba Yaga, you are finally introduced to the main reason I wanted to play Baba Yaga. There were some frame issues in the cutscene reveal, but no doubt something to be ironed out as this is still in Early Access.
If playing the demo, you’ll find the gameplay ends as you move out of the area riding Baba Yaga. Whereas in this early access version, you continue forth into the next area. This area has a similar feel, but also different, as even though it’s just another village next to the river, it’s got new additions, such as: the type of farming, the merchant, the stories, the type of quests, the need of cooking and Leshy.
The main quest in this area is good and seems to flesh out the story, but at the same time, it is not. I think they have done that purposely because they do not want to give away too much of the story before the full release.
There were times when I was doing quests where I got all turned around and lost, even when using the map… like when told to go to a circle, but what circle? Well, it turns out this was likely due to me facing a different direction than they thought I would be facing, so I totally missed it several times while searching.
Gathering ingredients can be tricky when you want one thing, but the birds decide to take down something else along with it, which could cause trouble… but that is just ensuring you are aiming the mouse correctly (mostly).
I enjoyed interacting with the NCPs for their little stories, but it was rude when one pushed me out of the way after I said goodbye. Their quests were fine, though it took me a while to figure out how to cook (oddly, I think there was a small tutorial in the demo, but not in this). Once I realised how to cook, it was easy to test and find recipes by combining things.
Reka is a mystery that is not fully ready yet, but it is weaving its magic together to create its fully fleshed-out story. It has repetitiveness at times, and you can get turned around and lost, but the way the developers seem to be working on this (along with the help of their community), it should get nailed down before the full release.
So overall, there are enjoyable ingredients but not a fully potent potion… just yet.
The development roadmap was released on their Discord server and Steam store page on Launch Day.
Reka Early Access Roadmap
- 12th September 2024 – Early Access Launch
- End September 2024 – Post-launch beg fixing, stability and optimisation work
- October 2024 – Minor Update: “Witching Hour”
- Late 2024 – Minor Update: Crafting and Content Drop
- Early 2025 – Major Update: Main story update and more
- On-going – Bug fixing, stability and optimisation
