Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan has a fantastic art direction, with colorful and expressive sprites. Which are clearly hand-drawn along with each frame. There is just something about how some of the characters just bled together and how a lot of the special attacks are distinguishable from each other. Especially grievous in the first few fights of Aurion. The music is very nice and full of tribal tunes and catchy as heck.
The same can’t be said for the sound design in Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. I feel a distinct lack of impact before and after dealing with damage. Not to mention the lack of footsteps. It throws me out of the action since I can’t tell what is going on during intense action. It would be a good idea to have enemies telegraph their attacks much more clearly than a tiny exclamation mark. It’s clear that the combat style wears its inspiration on the sleeve and the special moves look quite nice, along with the fancy poses. I can also honestly say that I like the way the characters are drawn.
The story follows a duo composed of a newlywed King and his spouse. Who got dethroned on the same day as the wedding. Their dynamic is fairly amusing, with a lot of jokes and good dialogue. But it could use a proofreader. Since there are several places where space is missing, within the text. That being said, the most annoying thing that I would highly suggest fixing is the loading time. There is loading all over the place, such as before a battle is initiated. It’s a deal breaker if a fight takes less time then than starting it.
Combat is all about hacking and slashing while spamming special attacks. Until the enemy tries to attack, then roll out of the way. When their health is low, his wife can be summoned to heal and support them in various ways. Aurion is the fancy name of the energy the King uses to fire off special moves, which eventually is turned into a huge screen-shaking finisher. Most of the bosses can use this energy as well.
I quite like the setting of Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. It is a rare thing to see a game utilizing lore, stories, and designs from Africa. Despite the whole continent had more than just deserts, lions, pygmies, and pyramids. For anyone interested, I’d say it is worth it despite some design issues, that are easy to fix.
Njål Sand is a Norwegian Cosplayer with opinions on video games, and a passionate for creating content on YouTube about living in Norway, and gaming!