Creatures of Ava

Creatures of Ava comes from the Spanish Inverge Studios and Chibig, the latter probably best known for the cosy Summer in Mara and Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara. Creatures of Ava is a bit in the same style and is also something as unusual as an adventure without violence, but with a strong focus on exploration instead.

The story takes place on the mysterious planet of Ava, where young nature adventurer Victoria, simply known as Vic, has crashed her small spaceship. In awe, Vic sets out to explore the planet and soon learns that animals, plants and the native Naam tribes are threatened by a dark infection that the natives call The Withering. Vic sets out with her research partner Tabitha to save the planet's wildlife from the devastating infection by mapping the animal species on the planet and teleporting them away to a BioArk - off the planet.

Ava is divided into four areas and each area has its own animal and plant life. Vic will explore the areas, discover the unique plants and animals and document the animal species and learn more about them by taking pictures and interacting with them. There are both healthy animals in the wild and animals that are already infected and have become hostile and aggressive, and she must rescue and cure them with a magic wand that she received shortly after arriving in Ava.

Vic also has a magic flute with her, given to her by the first Naam tribe she meets, and she learns to play several melodies on this flute along the way. This also means that she can imitate the animals' sounds with the flute and they will therefore feel safe with her and help her solve different tasks in the environment, such as removing obstacles, pushing large boxes or opening magical flowers. The animals will also follow Vic if she plays a special tune so that she can collect the animals at some teleporters that Tabitha has placed around to send them to the BioArk.

Finally, Vic has to solve various tasks or missions for the Naam tribe, which unfortunately are not particularly interesting and are mostly about finding things in the environment, getting something for the village chief or similar. Additional side missions are also opened up as you complete the missions and there are plenty of things to look for in the environment if you are the thorough type.

Creatures of Ava is in a way a "feel good" game where you can explore the environment at your own pace without any stress or violence, make friends with the different animal species and fill your Avapedia with pictures and information about the animals and plants. There is also the underlying narrative of humanity arriving on an alien planet to "save the local tribes and animals" by removing them both from the land - this part becomes more and more evident as the game progresses, but I won't reveal more about that here.

Creatures of Ava is a beautiful game, although the graphics are on the simple side. Ava is a beautiful place, filled with plants, big trees, trickling streams and cosy villages where the Naam tribes belong. It's all bathed in an abundance of colour and at the same time has a simple and slightly cartoony style, but it's beautiful and works well. The sound, and especially the soundtrack, is key here, as the flute is one of the most important parts of the game and there are some really beautiful melodies in the soundtrack.

The game is unfortunately a little rough around the edges, but nothing that really ruins the experience - however, it is something you notice. Sometimes the beautiful music can suddenly disappear, the menus and the game map are both unnecessarily difficult to use, the controls are a bit tank-like and a bit imprecise and the animals can get stuck in the environment so they have to follow Vic through the landscape. The map in particular is frustrating to use and it feels like the game could have used a bit more time in the oven.

In the end, Creatures of Ava ends up being a slightly mediocre experience. The above elements of frustration are compounded by the fact that the game becomes somewhat monotonous as you more or less repeat the same thing in all four areas of the game - there are new obstacles and new enemy plants and animals in the areas, but there's not much variety in the gameplay.

If you're the type who loves exploring every corner of a game world and leisurely moving through a slightly cluttered game world, this could be a great way to pass the time. It's also worth mentioning that Creatures of Ava landed on Game Pass on launch day, so if you're looking for something to fiddle around with, take a look at this game, because it certainly has its moments.