One of the rarity in video games is the ability to control multiple characters, especially all at the same time rather than individually. The latest developer to take on this approach is Navegante Entertainment with their upcoming title Greak: Memories of Azur. With their release date coming up next month, their publisher Team17 has released a demo for the game on both Steam and Nintendo Switch to build interest. After playing through the demo myself, I have to say that this is not going to be an easy game to get used to.
Gameplay
You start off playing as Greak by himself and are given enough ground to go through in order to get the hang of the basic controls. Now that you understand how to move, jump, and fight, they immediately bring you into contact with the second of three characters; Adara. From there, you switch controls to play as her and get the basics of her controls, which are generally the same except she can hover instead of double-jump and has a magical ranged attack rather than a melee one.
Soon you bring the two characters together and the trickiness begins. You can either handle playing as these characters in one of two ways - one at a time or both simultaneously. Personally, I find the simultaneous controls to be faster but much more complicated given their difference in styles. Sure, you can even use them both to fight at the same time, but even that can be a bit tricky to control.
When using them separately, you get the advantage of controlled ranged attacks too. While Adara has her magical ability that just has to recharge after too much use, Greak has a limited number of arrows. The same button used to pull out Greak’s arrows is the same one you use to control the direction of Adara’s magical attacks. This lets both of these characters have the opportunity to shoot in any direction.
This demo only brings you to the point of using these two characters, so I can not speak for how the controls with the third character, Raydel, are going to affect the gameplay.
Using this mixture of controls between the characters, you have to solve puzzles that help you make your way through the map. This could be a range of obstacles such as high up or long distanced platforms, locked doors that need gears to open, elevator sections to lift Adara up after Greak double-jumps his way up, and more.
At the end of the demo, you come up to a boss fight. Granted, I believe they expected you to use both of your characters to fight this thing, but when I tried I would always lose. It only takes one character's death to be a game over - there are no revives. I ended up using Adara to fight the boss because her ranged attacks just made it easier to lay down damage while keeping away from its attacks. Meanwhile, Greak just stood on a lifted platform.
Expectations
Having control of multiple characters is definitely an interesting concept, but if I am ever put into a boss fight where I have to use more than one at a time, I might find myself struggling to proceed. There was no way I would have beaten that boss if I had to include Greak into the matters, so I hope they always have a platform or location to leave characters stationary during the big fights. I’m not a novice player either, so I can definitely see a lot of people having issues with mandatory multi-character controls in hectic situations.
The puzzles in the demo were actually fairly simple to get through, but fun to solve. I can always enjoy a good mix of platforming and puzzle-solving. Hopefully, this aspect of the game will continue to get more complicated throughout the adventure because this was easily the more entertaining part of the demo’s experience for me.
Given that they are approaching a beloved gaming genre with the unique take of multiple character controls, I hope to see some seriously unique takes on puzzles and level design overall. If it turns out that the multiple character control aspect is more for story and boss fights, it might not go nearly as far as it ultimately could.
Conclusion
Greak: Memoreis of Azur has a solid demo experience and easily builds excitement for the game’s release next month on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch! If you are looking for a new adventure game with a unique take on gameplay, then you need to try this game’s demo out. Not only is it an entertaining experience, but it’s also a unique take on the action-platformer genre.
