Creatures of Ava initially caught my eye for what can only be described as, debatably, petty reasons. I’m always curious to see a new game about catching or taming monsters and their application to various issues. Don’t get me wrong—I love Pokémon as much as anyone else—but I think it’s high time someone took them down a peg.
And while I’ve largely come around on Pokémon Violet despite its objective flaws, I’ve been longing for a game with interesting ideas around creature capturing. Creatures of Ava wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it was a quaint little cozy game that included monster ranching in an interesting enough way.
Creatures of Ava puts players in the role of Vic, a young explorer who has been surveying the planet of Ava and a mysterious blight that is threatening it called “The Withering.” During a routine space expedition, Vic’s ship is mysteriously pulled down to the planet, where it crashes near some ancient ruins.
Soon, she meets a Naam—the natives of Ava—who claims to be an archeologist and helps Vic claim an ancient staff with mysterious powers that allow her to cleanse The Withering. Vic must work to gain the trust of the Naam, learn their ways and find a way to save the planet and all its inhabitants.
“Creatures of Ava wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it was a quaint little cozy game that included monster ranching in an interesting enough way.”
It’s a simple enough story that combines elements of sci-fi and fantasy in a thoughtful and lighthearted manner—think Avatar but without all the pretentious bullshit. It has a lot of charm and a few tongue-in-cheek moments but maintains a certain seriousness throughout—with mysteries about certain characters and even the death of Vic’s parents unfolding throughout the proceedings.
The gameplay in Creatures of Ava is an interesting blend of exploration, light combat, and creature-based puzzle-solving. It honestly feels like a mix of elements from a lot of games but implemented in a unique and fun way. Players will travel the world of Ava, completing quests for locals in a mostly linear fashion and learning new spells for their staff to assist in light platforming and combating Withered creatures.
Since this is a cozy game, combat isn’t a particularly involved affair. Once players lock on a creature, they’ll begin channelling a beam of energy on it. Any other creatures that touch the beam become part of the chain, so it’s a simple game of waiting until the withering is clear to help the creatures.
However, it’s not so cozy that it doesn’t provide some challenge. The Withered creatures are still hostile and will attempt to attack Vic while she’s channelling them, so players still need to be aware and active participants in the fight—using a combination of jumps, dodges and the magic abilities that can be used for the environment. It works really well to never stress players out but never go against the game’s more relaxed nature.
Outside of combat, players will use their camera, Pokémon Snap-style, to capture pictures of the many creatures to archive them and learn about their different abilities. This also provides players with useful experience points that they can use to unlock many useful skills within a Skill Tree.
However, since Ava is a spiritual place, in order to connect with its creatures and inhabitants, Vic must master the use of a mystical flute, learn songs that help her understand the land, and play small melodies to charm the local creatures. It works a bit like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and a bit like Simon Says—activating certain areas requires playing longer named songs, while charming animals will give players three notes to repeat properly.
“The gameplay in Creatures of Ava is an interesting blend of exploration, light combat, and creature-based puzzle-solving.”
Once Vic has some creatures following her, she can connect with them and use their unique abilities to clear obstacles around the world. Some animals can charge through tough brambles, while others can snap ropes to lower bridges, and some can burrow through specific creature holes. There’s an open and fluid nature to it, as, unlike Pokémon, players don’t need to keep a team of creatures and can just use whatever’s on hand at the moment.
However, since Vic is on Ava to help its inhabitants, each of the unique biomes has Rescue Bots, where players can bring a required number of different animals to keep them safe lest the world fall apart, but really for that sweet, sweet bonus experience. As I said, it’s a solid combination of gameplay ideas that provides a lot for the player to do while never feeling overwhelming or overtly mandatory. It’s got a really solid vibe.
Visually, Creatures of Ava is incredibly beautiful, utilizing a bright and colourful colour palette that also feels somewhat soft and gentle. The world of Ava feels truly alien and unique, and every unique location pops out. However, it does have some noticeable little visual hiccups—some particle effects that clip out of their vertices or foliage that clips through the geometry. It’s not enough to be a deal breaker, considering the game’s fantastic aesthetic, but it does take you out of the experience a little.
Backing the visuals is an incredible soundtrack that combines a whimsical sense of adventure with a beautiful and reflective spirituality. This comes most from the incredible use of flute that backs the game’s soundtrack whenever players use it to lead creatures around—Vic will be playing it the whole time. It adds a sort of ethereal calm to the whole game, giving the world a sense of magic and life. It’s really something.
Creatures of Ava is another solid example of what a cozy game can be with a little ingenuity and experimentation. Its world and gameplay provide a laid-back enough experience to push players forward. While it might not set the world on fire, it does add a little more light to it, which is pretty good in my book.
