Developer: Tokoronyori
Publisher: Kodansha
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
BOKURA – Review
Co-op games are still as trendy as ever. They’re a great way to hang out with friends and get some gaming time in, though they have to try harder and harder to set themselves apart from the slew of other multiplayer games that come out constantly. BOKURA by Japanese developer Tokoronyori manages to do just that by making the experience distinctly unique for each player. Actually, the fact that your co-op partner isn’t seeing the same things on their screen as you are is a vital part of the gameplay. It’s time to solve puzzles and have your view on childhood and nostalgia changed forever.
Story
BOKURA begins with a short cutscene of an adult man on a train, whimsically thinking back to his childhood and how the tedious nature of his job has robbed him of a lot of joy he had in life. He remembers a special journey he went on with a friend back then, a friend that isn’t around anymore. Then we flashback to his childhood, thus starting the game properly. The two nameless protagonists are young boys who consider running away from home since they have complicated family situations and find their lives to be rather dull. When they actually attempt to run away from home though, they find a dead deer and the sight is enough to make them faint. As they wake up, they find themselves transported into an alternate world. One boy sees this new world as being full of cute animals and having a fairytale-like setting, while the other sees machinery and robots. But they’ll still have to work together to make it back home.
The game has a simple narrative told mostly through character interactions and dialogue. Choices are presented to you, though their effect on the overall plot seems to be rather minimal.
Graphics
As you might have guessed from the above segment, the graphics of this game will be pretty different depending on which character you play. In both cases, the art style is pixelated and pleasing to look at, with an impressive amount of attention paid to the details and the backgrounds. For one player, the aesthetic will be very adorable. The colors pop off the screen and all the character designs are cute, which makes the sometimes disturbing plot beats more ominous. The other player will see a monochrome world with unique robot designs. Communicating with your friend so they can understand how different the world looks at your end is one of the vital mechanics of the game and it really adds a special touch.
Sound
The soundtrack of this game is a highlight, offering a really beautiful score full of emotional and understated music. It never takes over, playing unobtrusively in the background while really adding to the heavier story scenes. Parts of the soundtrack are sung in Japanese, which you’ll either like or hate depending on if that is your style. Personally, we quite liked it. The game has no voice acting but does have plenty of sound effects. Like the graphics, these sound effects are different between players, offering an even more unique experience.
Gameplay
BOKURA is a puzzle adventure game that requires communication between the two players to make it through. The game does not have any in-game functionality for this, which it warns you about in the menu. You’ll have to either use a third-party voice chat like Discord or you can even play in the same room if you want. Just make sure that you can’t peek at each other’s screens since that ruins the entire premise of the game.
Puzzles are simple at first and gradually get harder as you go. They’re mostly of an environmental nature, challenging you to figure out how to get from point A to B without dying. Sometimes you’ll also need to retrieve an item or press a button. Your characters can do some minimal platforming but they are very fragile when it comes to fall damage. Elements such as buttons that need to be held down or seesaws that need a counterweight force players to work together to complete simple tasks.
But things don’t stay that easy for long. Soon, you’ll realize that each character sees the world in a very different way – literally! Where there might be a large hole for one player, the other will have a convenient platform to stand on. This makes it so you really have to communicate in order to solve puzzles, meaning one player can’t just run ahead and do everything on their own. Combine this with the game being relatively short and having a free friend pass available allowing you to invite a friend along even if you only have one copy of the game, and BOKURA makes for a very solid co-op experience.
Conclusion
Even though BOKURA might only take a few hours to finish, this is a journey that will stay with you for a while. The soundtrack is beautiful, the graphics are unique, and the storytelling manages to be both very simple and emotionally poignant. If you can grab a friend to bring along, you won’t regret spending your afternoon figuring out the puzzles in this game.
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