From densely packed offerings such as Assassin’s Creed, Cyberpunk 2077, and Far Cry to more open-ended experiences such as Once Human and Palworld, exploring the best open-world games is always a joy. As someone who loves that sense of adventure and who also enjoyed the stunning action-adventure of Kena: Bridge of Spirits, I’ve recently had my eye on another beautiful indie game. Kaku: Ancient Seal comes from developer Bingobell, and after a year in early access it’s now officially out to a very positive initial reception.
Kaku: Ancient Seal follows the tale of the eponymous young adventurer, who has been tasked with the rather intimidating quest of restoring balance to the land. Joined by his faithful flying companion Piggy, you’ll have to journey into four distinct regions, each offering some spectacular sights to see and all of them packed with puzzles, secrets, and danger aplenty. If you’re a big fan of open-world games that encourage a mix of exploration, combat, and dungeon-delving, Kaku promises to be a worthwhile addition to your collection.
With a range of different weapons, equipment, and runestones, you’ll be able to determine a build that best suits your preferred playstyle. As you explore, ancient shrines will offer additional rewards if you’re able to best their trials – whether physical or mental in nature – in true Breath of the Wild style. With such captivating visuals and lots of buried secrets to discover, you can also expect to be well rewarded for exploring thoroughly.
“We want to thank all the players for their long patience and support, especially those who played the early access version,” Bingobell says of the launch. “We believe the new Kaku: Ancient Seal will provide an even better experience. The seal is broken, the adventure begins, and your destiny awaits on the journey through the ancient continent.” With an estimated 30 hours to see everything, it’s certainly a robust offering.
The response so far seems very promising. In its first day since it launched out of early access, Kaku has reached a peak player count just shy of 5,000 concurrent users, comfortably beating its high from the early access release. That’s an impressive number for an indie studio, and perhaps even better, of those that have chosen to review it, 86% give it a positive recommendation.
Kaku: Ancient Seal is out now on Steam, with an introductory discount of 25% available through Thursday July 25 meaning you’ll pay just $18.74 / £15.74, down from its usual price of $24.99 / £20.99. There’s also a free demo available to download if you want to try it out before you buy.
Can’t get enough of discovering hidden gems? Here are the best indie games on PC in 2024. Or dive into some more high-octane tales with the best action-adventure games you can play right now.
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