Kumu’s Adventure Preview

A Tactical Quest

Set up camp and arm your team in Kumu’s Adventure. This strategy rogue lite RPG by Newland Canada is on track to making a great title that has great inspirations in its design. So gear up and set out on a fun but challenging adventure.

On The Road Again

Kumu’s Adventure has its game split into two sections, your camp and Adventure. In your camp, you can upgrade machines to increase resource production, give your team equipment or get permanent upgrades that don’t go away after a run. Once finished in camp, you can set out on the Adventure, the main bulk of the gameplay. With your team, you travel across a grid-based map, either defeating foes or completing objectives. Each tile you travel will take away a bit of fuel from your vehicle. You can go to fuel tiles to refuel if you have enough money from your encounters. You can also collect currency and can collect enemies as buffs while you are in the overworld. If you run out of fuel or your team gets defeated, then you are sent back to camp.

The game’s combat and progression are where the rogue like tactical gameplay kicks in. Each encounter is turn based by team. Each character can be moved on the grid in a specific number of tiles per turn and attack if possible. After your team does its actions, it then switches to the enemy for their turn. When you defeat enemies, your heroes will level up and you can choose a random skill/buff to strengthen them. You can also use one-time use skills you’ve collected in the overworld to help defeat your foes. After completing objectives, you will fight a boss and then proceed to the next area. If your team dies or you end the run, everyone starts at level one for the next Adventure.

Improvements and Final Thoughts

Kumu’s Adventure is shaping up to be a strong title for an early access game. With early access comes minor issues, some more dire than others. The “take a break” option is the most significant feature that needs fixing. If a player closes the app, it forces them to start the tutorial again until they can sign in. A recommendation is a main menu with a load feature, so players don’t have to start a tutorial again. Things like optimization to performance and more skills to diversify builds would significantly increase the fun factor. The game offers a store and a battle pass. The store is not intrusive since rewards in-game are fair, and the battle pass gives great items for even a free player. You can purchase coins and gems in the store, but it never felt needed, which is a breath of fresh air.

Overall, Kumu’s Adventure is a great early access game. The art style and gameplay loop are made well, with only a few bugs that hinder it from excellence. At the game’s current state, I would recommend checking it out.