Copoka

Developer: Inaccurate Interactive | Publisher: Guru Games | Release Date: 2016 | Genre: Casual / Indie | Website: N/A | Purchase: Steam

From high up in the sky the city of Copoka looks like a vibrant and peaceful place. Bordered by the ocean on one side and mountains on the other, it could easily pass for an idyllic vacation spot. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving and closer to the ground, it becomes clear that all is not well in paradise. What looks picture perfect from the sky actually turns out to be a totalitarian city state on the ground. Someone called the “Great Leader” is in charge and soldiers patrol the streets while hunched over citizens cough miserably and bemoan their lot. There is also talk of rebellion which, along with the scarcity of medicine and closed borders, has got everyone on edge. While all of this would have been the perfect excuse to join the rebellion and overthrow the Great Leader in a different game, none of it matters to your character in Copoka.

The reason for the indifference of your character is the fact that it is just a bird. In fact, its only concerns in this game is collecting shiny things for its nest. There is nothing that can hurt you, no way to die and no puzzles to solve. Instead, all you do is fly around the city and surrounding area while keeping an eye open for shiny objects and feathers. For every four shiny objects you collect and return to your nest the story of the city and its inhabitants advances a bit. The feathers on the other hand can be collected to increase the speed of your bird. Last, but not least, is the ability of your bird to eavesdrop on the conversations of the citizens in order to find out what is going on.

Although Copoka is being billed as an open world title, it is more of a sandbox game. The city of Copoka isn’t very large and it only takes a minute or two to traverse the map. Nothing is off limits to you or need to be unlocked, so what you see at the start of the game is what you get. Most of the items you need to find are also found in the streets of the city, which leaves little reason to explore the surrounding countryside. This means that Copoka is not really a title that is going to appeal to fans of action games or players who demand a challenge. Fly high enough into the air and the items you need to find shine like stars, which negates the need to search for them. Likewise, the feathers can easily be spotted from the air and there are only eleven of them in total. However, if you simply want to enjoy the peaceful sensation of flying around some colorful landscapes then Copoka definitely delivers.

While we would have liked to see bigger and more interesting environments to fly around, it is fun to soar high above the heads of the citizens or swoop underneath bridges.

Copoka can be played with a mouse and keyboard combination, but for the best results a controller is definitely recommended. With it, you can use the analog stick for maneuvering your bird around or hold down the right trigger to speed up. Hold down the left trigger to slow down and the “A” button to land. Strangely enough, you can also press the “Y” and “B” buttons to tweet at citizens, but this doesn’t actually accomplish anything apart from rewarding you with an achievement. Overall the controls work well enough and you’ll be soaring around like a pro in no time.

Visually, the game is very colorful, although the visuals lean more towards being stylish than realistic. The citizens are all caricatures that have spindly legs, no arms and with coats, caps and scarfs wrapped tightly around them. From the air everything looks beautiful, especially the lush green countryside, but up close you can see how drab and gray the city really is. Of course, this is done intentionally to represent the oppressed state of the citizens, but it would have been nice to have a bit more variety in terms of locations. Even just an excuse to explore the countryside a bit more would have been welcome because as relaxing as it is to fly around simply for fun, it does become repetitive in the end.

Copoka features some nice audio and we particularly enjoyed the dynamic music. Soar high up into the air and the music will become more uplifting while if you stick close to the ground everything is more somber and depressing. Apart from all the coughing and other ambient sounds of citizens simply trying to make it through another day the game also features some surprisingly good voice acting. Most of the conversations you eavesdrop on has to do with with the rebellion or the sad state of affairs, but there is also a character named John with some laugh out loud lines.

In the end Copoka is one of those games that you will either thoroughly enjoy or find yourself wondering what is the point. Instead of an adventure or open world game, it has more in common with so called “walking simulators” as you are only a passive observer of your surroundings without any ability to change the course of events. Copoka is also a very short experience and after a couple of hours you will have seen and heard everything that it has to offer. It is certainly a very different title and we quite enjoyed the experience while it lasted, but there is no doubt that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. The price is very reasonable, though, so if you ever wondered what it would feel like to soar like a bird, this is your opportunity to find out.