Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom: Befriending the Beast
Our first look at the ethereal adventure featuring a thief and his trusty demon.
US, April 14, 2010 - The art style of Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom immediately appealed to me. Sure, the dynamic between the limber young hero and the gentle giant has been done before, but there was something about the majin's face that I took an instant liking to. Perhaps it was his small, innocent eyes, or his oversized jaw, but I wanted to see this game in action. I had a chance to do so when publisher Namco Bandai demoed the game for me last week.
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, developed by Japanese studio Game Republic, follows a nameless young thief and his journey into -- appropriately -- a forsaken kingdom. Long ago, a cloak of darkness spread over this kingdom and engulfed its inhabitants, leaving the area of the world eerily vacant. Those that attempted exploration never returned, and eventually the land was avoided and forgotten.
The adventure at hand was described to me as a mix between Legend of Zelda and Prince of Persia. The gameplay is a combination of traditional platforming, puzzle solving and open-world exploration. Players take control of the thief as he journeys into the forsaken kingdom and stumbles upon a sleeping giant. The term "majin" in Japanese can mean a number of things, like "demon god" or "genie." But the majin that our hero encounters is far from demonic. Whimpering in his sleep about a full tummy, he wakes to the sounds of the hero approaching and suddenly exclaims that he is hungry and needs to consume the fruit in which his stolen power is stored. With one hand pinned to the ground, there's little he can do on his own, so our hero volunteers to help.
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Although the hero boasts a fairly interesting design (considering his stylish cloak and large eyes), the real star of the show is the majin. With a large frame and a variety of plants growing on his back, this creature embodies the "one with nature" motif beautifully, and I sincerely hope that his childish demeanor is properly developed during the game's adventure.
At the start of the demonstration, the hero moved through the dungeon-like maze in which the majin is being held and snuck past a few shadowy guards. The hero is not one for combat, as his strength lies in his swiftness and dexterity. The hero snuck towards the fruit by throwing rocks at the enemies in order to draw them away. Once the fruit was in his possession, he returned it to the majin and the charming creature regained his strength. The inky darkness that was previously coating the majin's limb disappeared and the hero pulled a giant pin from the majin's arm, freeing the creature and acquiring a new weapon in the process.
The majin, grateful for the assistance, agrees to help the hero escape from the dungeon. It is here that the primary gameplay components emerge, as players must issue orders to the majin in order to successfully traverse the in-game environments. Point to anything in the game and you can order the majin to interact with it. For example, during the demonstration there were many massive gates that the majin could open for the hero. Also, when the hero encountered a number of enemies standing underneath a loose chunk of rock, he lured them close and signaled the majin to push the stone onto the enemies below.
When enemies are defeated, they release an orb of darkness that hovers over their body. If the hero is alone, he'll be unable to finish off the enemies because he'll have no means of dispatching that orb -- the enemies' source of power. But with majin in tow, the hero need only incapacitate the enemies, because the majin will then absorb that dark power as his own, which can be used to heal himself or the hero, as well as upgrade his own abilities.
The puzzles players will find won't be explained directly. Things start out simple, but eventually players must find their own way around the world and think of solutions that are only hinted at by friendly animals. Yes, our hero can converse with nearby critters, which perhaps explains his ability to communicate with the majin. Towards the end of the demo, the hero uncovers an abandoned trebuchet, which the majin can pull down so the hero can climb into the basket in order to be hurled over a wall.
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All this exploration and shadow slaying is well and good, but my absolute favorite part of the demo was during a cutscene, when the majin, revealing his name to be Teotl, names the hero Tepeu. After this exchange, Tepeu sees a glimpse of Teotl's past because the pin he carries retained some of Teotl's power. This flashback was told with 2D silhouettes and it made me instantly interested in Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom's story. In the flashback, Teotl is guarding a sword-wielding girl from a number of shadowy creatures. Teotl is bleeding badly and the girl insists that he rests, but he continues to fight the waves of enemies until the flashback ends. This leads the player to ask a number of questions. How long ago did these events unfold? Who is the girl in the memory, and why is Teotl protecting her? I can't wait to find out.
For me, the art style and story of Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is even more intriguing than the base gameplay. From what I saw during my demonstration, the initial platforming and puzzle solving is fairly unoriginal, but the real excitement should come from uncovering more details regarding Teotl and his past. And considering Majin is supposed to be a 30 hour adventure, there should be plenty to discover.
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is scheduled to launch this summer for the PS3 and 360. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the gameplay is just as intriguing as the aesthetics built around it.
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