Does the Tarahumara culture sound familiar to you? No? Well, it exists, and it is an indigenous ethnic group from the Sierra de México. As you will read in this analysis, the Lienzo team immerses us fully in their culture and mythology with Mulaka, an adventure “of the old days” with a lot of charm and variety.
To say that Mulaka is “an action and adventure video game set in Tarahumara mythology ” is not a lie, but it is an understatement when explaining to someone what is going to be found here. Lienzo’s work has a certain charm, a certain power of suggestion that is difficult to describe. Definitely, I don’t think it’s a game for everyone, but I’m sure there will be a small section of its players who will be enthralled with that “je ne sais quoi” we are talking about.
No, Mulaka does not have memorable characters, nor an open and complex world, but she is capable of catching you with the familiarity or naturalness that you would expect in games like The Legend of Zelda , from which she drinks a lot and in many ways: the characters with Those we speak present the same ambiguous and unnatural trembling countenance as those we see in the Nintendo series, and we also find their bosses and demigods, their camera shots and even their enemies and final bosses just as close to us… among other things.
But make no mistake: we are talking about a merely mechanical familiarity, Mulaka is by no means a Frankenstein who takes parts of various games to get going. Quite the contrary, it is a game true to itself and its own ideas, which proposes us to explore a culture as exotic as the Tarahumara. We control a Sukurúame (Chosen Son of the Stars) who gives the game its name, and our destiny is to purge the Sierra de México of evil and the greed of an evil deity known as Terégori. With this objective, we must travel through different locations seeking the help of the demigods, who grant us their blessings and powers to transform us into animals.
Mulaka: Release Date
A fairly hackneyed story in the world of video games that we can complete in about 5-6 hours if we go straight to the point, with the possibility of revisiting the areas we have previously left behind to discover new collectibles and secrets. Each of these areas feature both an artistic design and their own musical themes – the latter quite inspired, in fact – and they do not stop improving until the end of the adventure. In addition, the loading screen that separates each of them is very brief.
Mulaka strives to introduce new enemies, bosses, mechanics and puzzles constantly so as not to be repetitivePerhaps this is where one of Mulaka’s greatest strengths lies : she strives to constantly introduce new enemies, bosses, mechanics and puzzles to avoid the sense of repetitiveness. Some of the monsters that appear as we progress are variants of existing enemies, in such a way that we can see normal, magnetic or suicidal trilobites, for example. And we are always offered the ability to develop your background with an optional speech bubble. Something similar happens with puzzles: there are very few types of these, but the ones that exist gain complexity and originality as you progress through the adventure.
It is a pity that the battles themselves do not follow the general trend of variety: most bosses are quite fun, but unfortunately the confrontations against small enemies are not up to the task. They take place in small closed areas and with little or no interaction with scenes. In addition, they are prolonged by additional waves of enemies, so they can become overtly heavy at times. They are saved by the fact that each enemy is well defined enough to force us to think a bit and distribute our priorities and times to attack.
Understanding the concerns of the Tarahumara helps us make the adventure more meaningful.
It doesn’t help that we only have a spear as a weapon, and although it can be used with more than one mechanic, it would have been nice to be able to make use of more combos or unlock an extra weapon to enrich our pugilistic possibilities. It would have suited the team especially well, considering that the mechanics for fighting enemies are very good individually; but the feeling of heaviness detracts from the whole.
We’ve reviewed the puzzles and battles, but we think it’s important to note that Mulaka’s levels also have an interesting exploration component . Some maps are more linear and others more open, although they all share this factor, which is mainly guided by the curiosity of the player. We often find chests or collectibles on hard-to-reach platforms, as well as many others hidden or impossible to get until we unlock a certain power.
Bosses get tougher as we go. This isn’t even the ultimate Ganoko!
And speaking of powers, from the beginning of the adventure we have a special vision power (similar to the classic eagle view from Assassin’s Creed) that helps us find the points of interest in the area where we are, although its use is quite limited. A mechanic that is very appreciated if we consider that at no time do we have a waypoint that tells us what to do: we must always open a door with three keys to continue, but the location of these depends on our ability to orient ourselves in the map and the clues that the characters offer us.
The levels are quite varied: they introduce enemies, puzzles and secrets.
When it comes to graphics, on the other hand, it is a somewhat thorny issue. We defend freedom and creative originality tooth and nail, and fortunately Mulaka brings us some very beautiful settings from time to time; However, the extreme simplification of the textures to the point that taking them to non-existence also leaves us with very bland shots on occasion. However, it is a matter of taste and the program reserves more joys than disappointments in this regard. We can’t say the same for the Unity engine, which leaves us with quite a few physical problems: some models are contained in an invisible box, and both the jumps and the power to transform us into a hawk can make us fall somewhere from which we can no longer get out. We have also faced certain specific slowdowns in the PC version, even using a powerful graphics card.
The balance, after all, tips in Mulaka’s favor . Even facing minor polishing problems and a somewhat improvable combat , it seems that they were only occasional setbacks that do not greatly affect the overall quality. The Tarahumara culture has its own, and there is also a subtle charm in the clumsy animations of its polygonal characters, the 90s-style puzzles with platforms, the possibility of transforming ourselves into animals or facing increasingly powerful versions of monsters such as “men campamocha “.
“Very good”
Mulaka
Mulaka is not only a varied potpourri of action and 90s platforms, but also rightly evokes sensations of some classics. Our journey through the Sierra de México invites us to discover areas with good pace and exploration, and take part in some great boss battles. Just a few performance issues and a limited arsenal cloud a great staging.
- Introduce new scenarios, enemies and mechanics constantly.
- Some sections of the game are particularly varied, complex and fun.
- Without falling into conservatism, it feels like a 90s classic.
- The combat scenarios are not well used.
- It presents technical flaws related to physics and fluidity.
- It could do with giving us access to a wider arsenal.
