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Ravenlok
Ravenlok is an indie action role-playing game developed and published by Canadian studio Cococucumber and released for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 4, 2023.[1] The game follows a young girl named Ravenlok, who finds herself pulled away from reality and into a fantasy land cursed by an evil Caterpillar queen. GameplayRavenlok is an action role-playing game that combines voxel tech with pixel art.[2] The game features a third-person perspective, in which players battle enemies using a sword and shield combo.[3]  Gameplay features include arena-based boss fights, a leveling system where players can hunt for new weapons and items to level up their skills, and quests where players can interact with secondary characters and uncover their stories.[4] PlotRavenlok is a fairytale reimagining a young girl and her quest to fulfill a dangerous prophecy.[2] The game follows Kira, whose family has moved into a new home in the countryside, after inheriting the estate from a missing relative. While investigating her new home, Kira falls through a mirror into a magical realm called Dunia, where she takes up the mantle of Ravenlok and embarks on a journey.[1] The developers have disclosed that the real-world home of Ravenlok is set in an unspecified place in rural Canada.[5]  The game draws inspiration from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with the protagonist being pulled through a mirror into a fantasy world. But unlike modern adaptations of the novel, the story does not appear to include its heavy subject material, such as mental illness.[6] Secondary characters and enemies include knights made of cards, a Queen of Hearts, a white rabbit, court jesters, playing-card guardsmen, and robotic versions of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.[7][8] DevelopmentRavenlok was announced and a trailer was revealed at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase in 2022.[9] The initial trailer earned praise for its unique art style, which blends voxel-based character designs and non-voxel 3D assets.[10] The trailer references classic elements of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with both the storyline and character designs reminiscent of Carroll's famous works.[11] Ravenlok's early footage has also drawn comparisons to 2000's American McGee's Alice, another third-person action-adventure game and modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland.[12] Ravenlok is the third and final installment in Cococucumber's Voxel Trilogy, following the releases of Riverbond and Echo Generation.[13][6] Ravenlok has been described as the culmination of their studio's exploration into the 3D pixel aesthetic.[14] Prior to Ravenlok's partnerships with Microsoft and Xbox, Echo Generation received positive online attention from both Microsoft Gaming CEO, Phil Spencer, and Xbox corporate Vice President, Sarah Bond, on Twitter.[5] The Cococucumber team has spoken of leaning into themes of family, and identity and finding your home in the structure of a coming-of-age story, while incorporating elements of different fantasy stories. Additional inspiration was found in exploring the idea of Asian identity.[11] While not explicitly mentioned, the protagonist comes from an Asian family.[5] Ravenlok game director Vanessa Chia told Epic Games Store that "the works of Studio Ghibli are a wonderful source of inspiration, especially My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away".[11] The Cococucumber team have expressed that the game references a number of fantasy stories, such as Labyrinth, The Lord of the Rings series, The Neverending Story, and Over the Garden Wall.[5] Chia said that while the comparison to American McGee's take on Alice in Wonderland is interesting, American McGee's Alice, it is more of a reflection for the appetite for a new game from the auteur developer.[11] The Cococucumber team have spoken about aiming to make an action role-playing game that builds upon their previous works' gameplay elements, specifically the turn-based combat in Echo Generation and Riverbond's dungeon crawling and arcade elements.[5] ReleaseRavenlok was released for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 4, 2023.[1] ReceptionRavenlok received "mixed to generally favorable reviews" for Xbox Series X/S upon release, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[15] The game has been particularly praised for its art direction and atmosphere, pacing, and the incorporated Alice in Wonderland iconography.[16] PC Gamer described it as an "absolute treat", with every environment being "packed with detail rendered in unfiltered textures" and "packed full of voxelized decoration and lit impeccably".[17] Game Rant's Dalton Cooper rated the game 4/5 stars, stating that, while Ravenlok may not be for players looking to "invest hundreds of hours into their games", it's a "short, sweet, easy game" that is "perfect to pick up and play", or as a "good starter game for kids". He praised the story for "never losing momentum" and being "consistently entertaining from start to finish", but stated that a hindrance is that the "camera can be overly restrictive at times."[18] References
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