Many gamers are starved for anything innovative but there's nothing wrong with keeping things simple. ITORAH is a traditional adventure wrapped in stunning visuals and a superb presentation. It's a classic concept with easy controls and a basic story that doesn't overstay its welcome. A classic adventure that leads you through exceptionally designed areas as you attempt to rid the world of a plague.

The adventure starts with a young girl waking up in the middle of nowhere. It isn't long before the girl is captured by deadly spiders but after freeing herself befriends a talking ax. After escaping the young girl named Itorah learns that humans have been extinct for centuries, worse is that a plague is causing the surrounding creatures to become increasingly more hostile. Despite being part of an extinct race many are welcoming as you may hold the key to stopping the plague.

The story is straightforward but adds more layers to it always remains simple. With the player learning of guardians who help regulate the world, different kingdoms, and your own life through brief visions. The excellent animations are highlighted with a smooth transition between emotional states and interactions between all the characters. Most are placed in the background with the exception of 2 villagers who are constant throughout the game. It can be annoying that the dialogue doesn't always auto-scroll, sometimes the dialogue does but in rare instances it is strange. Why not just make all the dialogue this way?

ITORAH's gameplay is focused on platforming and basic combat. You'll have access to a limited selection of attacks and moves but over the course of the adventure gain new mobility options such as dashing mid-air and new attacks like a ground slam. All of it is meant to open new paths but this isn't a Metroidvania. It's more of a semi-open linear adventure as the player is guided through the map but you can explore if you wish to earn exclusive items meant to upgrade your health, stamina, or healing abilities. There are hidden areas but these are mostly placed in dungeons rather than the open map.

Each major area serves as a large dungeon teeming with platforming challenges and combat opportunities. You'll avoid obstacles, fight enemies, and gain new abilities while trying to locate keys to unlock doors within the area. All your basic adventure concepts but the game are lacking in enemy variety. While the boss fights are unique affairs the normal enemies remain mostly the same throughout the game, with the exception of a handful.

Despite having a decent-sized map there is no fast traveling, which is strange. You'll have to backtrack through a lot of the map after completing a dungeon but having fast travel would've cut down on a lot of this.

ITORAH is not a hard game as you can tank most of the damage. Healing echoes, are replenished at campfires, allowing you to heal most of the damage. The only real challenge comes from chase sequences that are rare but intense platforming challenges. The boss fights are entertaining and wonderfully designed but even the final boss was an easy victory.

The most striking element of ITORAH is the visual and presentation. Despite not having a stand-out soundtrack the entire game complements one another for an outstanding presentation. A lot of passion went into the graphical design and setting the game's tone and it shows. The striking use of colors, the outstanding character models, and the dark contrast really brings out the art style. Bringing all together is the sound design that helps set the tone of each dungeon, cutscene, and battle. With every dungeon ending with a boss fight tailored to the area.

ITORAH takes many common mechanics found in every adventure game but does it well. It doesn't try to overcomplicate what works and brings it together with an outstanding production. The fantastic artwork and smooth animations help boost the more common elements found in the basic combat system and lack of enemy variety. ITORAH is a straightforward adventure but shows that even simple mechanics, when done well, can be used to create something amazing.
 

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed