Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame Part 1 Review

Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame, or from here on out simply Karmaflow, is a 3D puzzle/adventure game that presents itself in the form of a rock opera, which in itself is quite unique. It started its musical journey in 2012 as a graduation project of Ivo van Dijk and went on to be crowdfunded on Indiegogo . It’s worth noting this because the game actually didn’t get fully funded, but the people at Basecamp Games went ahead and made it anyway. This meant it was a small team working on it, and as such there were several bugs upon the game’s release. The rate at which any of these are being fixed is commendable though and they are obviously taking player feedback into consideration, which is good news for everyone.

The story for Act 1 takes place in a dark, mysterious world in which karma is the life force of everything. This is the premise of the entire game. You can collect and give away karma in order to solve the puzzles of how to get to the next area. For example, you might find a rogue vine, lying lifeless and miserable on the ground, and upon granting it some of your karma it turns into a nifty little bridge. The puzzles are actually quite challenging in places and I found it quite entertaining to work out what to do next. Often games similar to this can become dull very quickly but Karmaflow manages to keep things fresh.

This is probably helped by the overrunning narrative, which is the rock opera aspect of the game. The music itself is great, with some fantastic singers from bands like Cradle of Filth, Dragonforce and Arch Enemy but it is not just the story that is told in song. Everything is part of the opera from the backstory to the ongoing instructions that you encounter while playing. It makes the plot itself difficult to keep track of and the music therefore quite sporadic. This is amplified when you take into account that the game works with checkpoints and you are often forced to listen to the same section of melody several times before you work out how to move on. The inclusion of an escape-to-skip feature during these parts would definitely improve the experience.

The game is nice to look at, the different colours of the levels contrast well with your character and a general mist seems to be everywhere softening all the lines, making the setting hazy like some sort of dreamworld. This does work against itself in certain cases as the larger levels can be easy to get lost in as it causes you to lose any sense of direction you might already have (and I have none anyway). This isn’t helped by the fact that there is no map to speak of, mini or otherwise, and several times I found myself running in circles and had to kill myself to start again back at a checkpoint.

There is no violence to speak of, unless you count draining the life force of nearby creatures that wouldn’t look out of place in James Cameron’s Avatar. So if you’re into the pew-pew that you’d normally find in the adventure genre then you’re out of luck here. It really is more weighed on the side of puzzle.

There are some places in the game where player choice does have an affect on the world and the plot and this does give it some replay value, although it is not often enough to really entice you into more than one playthrough.
Overall Karmaflow is a pleasant game, with some interesting puzzles, pretty landscapes and a decent soundtrack but it’s not outstanding. With it constantly being improved however, it may evolve into something better. There is definitely scope for a more exciting and compelling Act 2.

The most interesting part of Karmaflow is the fact that it has been made into an actual rock opera, the kind that you can see on a stage and look at other actual humans singing it. Assuming the instructive parts are removed (they must be) it’s something I would consider going to watch.

With the funding and small workforce, I am impressed with what has been produced by Basecamp Games, but considering the price of £12.49 currently on Steam I can’t really recommend it. Maybe wait for a sale and nab it at half price.