REVIEW: ‘Creatures of Ava’ Tells a Tough but Fair Story (XSX)

Video games are not unfamiliar with addressing major issues throughout the world. Particularly when it comes to the conservation of our fragile planet, this topic is tackled from so many directions at this point that, at times, it can feel overdone. Creatures of Ava by Inverge Studios and 11 Bit Studios found a way to take it differently and uniquely. In this open-area action adventure, Metroidvania directly tackles the importance of conservation while also balancing just how much humans suck.

Creatures of Ava kicks off with Vic, a member of the BioArk creature capture team, crashing on the planet Ava. But that didn’t ruin her mission of saving every creature possible on Ava before a disastrous infection takes over the whole planet. With the help of Ava’s inhabitants, the Naam, Vic slowly learns not only the Naam’s culture, but how they balance living with wild creatures through music. What starts out as a wholesome mission to save a planet evolves into something grander as human ignorance and blinding empathy slowly get washed away through understanding the Naam and Ava’s cultures.

Throughout the story, the buildup to the game’s overall message is subtle. In fact, it plays well into how we, as humans, tend to think our generosity is the only way. We take our altruism as what is best. It’s not until the eleventh hour reveals of how awful humans can actually be, especially when it comes to governments or mega organizations using members’ selflessness for their own goals, that all is revealed.

Usually, those twists don’t work. They tend to feel overblown or as a twist that is only presented for shock value without much build-up. Creatures of Ava sticks the landing, though. It ties the major reveals to Vic’s backstory in ways that really work well for the overall story. Even if you can start to sniff out what is actually happening and where the story is going earlier on, it will all still hit because you start to feel for Vic and her journey as a caring human who just wants to help a people and its creatures survive a horrific event.

In that same vein, the final reveal of what’s happening to the planet is fantastic and drives home that we as humans need to listen more before acting. We tend to stick our noses in places that we don’t have a right to all because we think we’re helping. That’s shown very well in Vic’s interactions with the Naam, the native people of Ava. They don’t seem interested in this withering. They think of it as a celebration while still being unsure about what’s going on.

Each of the different types of people Vic interacts with has different feelings about humans because of past experiences. Some are for the better, many are ambivalent, and some actively hate us because of what others have done previously. Vic, though, doesn’t care. She’s just there to help! She’s not like the other humans. Vic just wants to save the Naam and collect different species from their natural habitats to give them a second chance. It’s not until she actually listens after a wake-up call that everything clicks. And that is something that you may have read numerous times in the past about how a person meddled or chimed in to “just help” but made situations much, much worse.

For gameplay, it really hones in on the creatures’ aspect.  Every tool that Vic obtains through her journey comes from the assistance of Ava’s inhabitants. Like the the flute and learning songs from the Naam to tame wild creatures, to her bow staff that helps cleanse the infection. Each tool is only used to its actual potential because Vic relies on the Naam. And the way they build on each other is almost Metroidvania-like.

Specifically with the creatures, each wild animal has unique abilities that can be used to solve puzzles or take out obstacles, but never to fight each other. As part of Vic’s goals to capture animals, she first needs to tame them. This is done by playing a mini Simon-Says-like game with music to play the song that the animal breed likes. Once played, they follow you around as long as you keep playing the flute, which thankfully plays a nice little melodic tune. One tamed as well, Vic can control the animal to perform certain tasks like breaking gates, pushing blocks, cutting ropes, etc., to reach quest goals or find upgrade items.

While each puzzle and challenge isn’t too complex, its mystery comes through how to use all the tools (animals) available in a specific area to reach that goal. Swapping between them can get a little buggy as sometimes the game doesn’t register that you can even take control of them. Several times, I had to leave an area and come back to get a species to be usable even though I had met all the criteria to control them. And the animals do not control that well either. They are adorable, though, so there are bonus points for that.

The withering infects some animals and needs to be cleansed before you can capture them at one of the designated capture points. To do this, Vic has to use her bo-staff to channel what’s like a natural cure to cleanse the beast. It’s not about damaging the animals; the health bars shown are at a level of corruption. As you play, you even unlock different spells that serve a purpose in the open world but can also affect the animals you’re cleansing be less of a threat.

Dodging attacks can get annoying fairly quickly with wonky hitboxes, especially when you’re facing more than two different animals at once. Each one has different attacks that can not only damage you but also blind you, make you stuck, or poison you. In later areas, creatures can use more than one type of attack to keep you on your toes. Just be careful since they also do way more damage and can lead to game-overs very quickly.

Everything you unlock can also be upgraded through a research tree, too. Upgraded abilities are essential for late-game survival when facing creatures with higher infection levels and armor. Researching the inhabitants of Ava allows you to get research points. Capturing creatures is one way. Another way is to complete research goals for each animal, find hidden artifacts like wind chimes or statues, or even take photographs of different animal forms (normal or infected). Most creatures have the same goals, and just doing what you need to to keep progressing the game may be enough to stay at a good level to keep Vic alive.

There’s also a significant amount of platforming you need to do to navigate the world, it is stiff. Vic is so hard to control at times. And the game feeling like it needs more polish, too, doesn’t help. By the time I hit credits, I had to reset the game twice because Vic got stuck on a ledge and was continuously falling. Resetting the game thankfully freed her, but you can’t even fast-travel or sometimes get hurt to free yourself. These were in areas that were explorable but not boundary-breaking, too, while trying to find hidden items. More QA testing was needed to make sure that those curious to find every secret wouldn’t get stuck on normal terrain while exploring each area.

Finally, be wary of progression since, for the first time in a long time, Creatures of Ava does have many points of no return. As the story progresses, areas get completely locked away and can only be revisited on a new playthrough, which is ROUGH. There’s no post-game exploration with everything unlocked. You need to approach Creatures of Ava with the mindset of wanting to 100% the game or just have a laymans playthrough to reach the end. Thankfully, it does provide easy-to-follow checklists to make sure you haven’t missed anything and will warn you what exactly you’re missing before agreeing to move on past one of those points.

Creatures of Ava, even with lots of rough edges, deliver an impactful message. How can we help those who we don’t understand? It nails this message while also being fun to explore overall. Each biome is distinct and full of secrets to discover. Every side quest builds out the Naam’s culture in ways you wouldn’t expect to have been considered. And every creature is adorable, and their functions still make sense. While combat can be a little stale, it never feels overdone. If you’re looking for a game with a new take on the conservation topic, there is no better game to represent it than Creatures of Ava.

Creatures of Ava is available August 7th on Xbox Series X/S and PC.