Kaze and the Wild Masks starts off as an innocent platformer from the 90s but goes from first to fifth gear quickly in difficulty. Ramping up to large amounts of difficulty and enjoying the scenery is what made platformers in the 90s good. With Kaze, the difficulty is such a dramatic shift that you’re stuck not having the ability to stop and smell the flowers that PixelHive has worked so hard to grow.
If you ever want to tug on the heartstrings of older gamers, then take what made the 90s great in a platformer, reproduce it, spice it up with a little ‘new’, and throw it on a last and current generation platform. PixelHive has done just that with their latest release in Kaze and the Wild Masks. A mixture of pseudo-blast processing gameplay and a tad of creativity to make the adventure interesting.
Easy-Peasy Story
Adventurers Kaze and her friend Hogo find a hidden cave with untold secrets and treasures. Thinking they have struck gold and found something particularly special, they accidentally unleash a horrible curse that turns Hogo into a floating head (a red floating head that is kinda creepy). Kaze must traverse through powerful lands, defeat horrible gods, and try to get her friend Hogo back to where he was before he was cursed. Along the way, Kaze picks up unique animal masks that aid her and provide her with certain animal attributes to complete her journey.
And that, dear readers, is a 90s platformer story structure in a nutshell. It’s nothing too complicated, straight and to the point, and introduces villains and power-ups. PixelHive obviously did their homework when coming up with a nostalgic story. Honestly, it’s nothing particularly too profound, but it doesn’t waste time with the details, which is something I love about this story. It really does harken back to the old days when platformers like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario ruled the roost. It’s the structure that ‘something has happened’ and ‘you need to fix it or save someone’. Nothing too complicated, just like the old games.
While the gameplay for those classic games is super simple, Kaze takes a few pages out of their simplicity and shifts into something pleasantly sinister in design.
To gameplay we go!
That got difficult quick!
The majesty of Kaze and how it acts as a platformer can be seen in the first few stages. It’s basic obstacle dodging, climbing up a level (and sometimes down), and progressing to the right side of the screen to win. It’s a simple structure really that every good platformer uses. The game features levels with vegetable enemies that you can bounce on or whip with Kaze’s ears. Some levels feature bouncing puzzles where missteps can equal death by falling in a pit. Again, old-school basic design from platformers over the decades. Easy-peasy stuff that doesn’t take too much effort to enjoy. Not too bad, right? Yeah. Not too bad. *nervous laughter*
Other levels, such as the one towards the end of the first world, feature sleeping crabs that awaken and have spikes on top of their shells, so you can’t jump on them. Those crabs walk fast (as crabs do) and are incredibly difficult to take down. The solution? Those same crabs go to sleep when you tap glowing flowers and open them up. Flowers are everywhere in the game and are timed when you touch them. They open, the crabs go to sleep, 3-4 seconds pass, and the flowers close, which unleashes said crabs. As this level progresses, the crabs become more resistant to the flower light, which means they don’t stay asleep as long, which also means you have to time jumps, flower openings, and other enemies that crawl along the level that aren’t crab related. It’s a challenge to get through this level. It’s a big challenge that brings difficulty to the gameplay really quickly. And that is the primer to future levels.
As this game progressed, the levels became quite difficult quickly. The inclusion of masks in the gameplay did help on occasion, but also at the same time hurt the gameplay. It was a weird balance of ‘congrats you have a mask that you can play this level smoothly’ versus ‘now the level has become even harder because you have the mask’. Is that the proper way of progressing difficulty in gameplay design? Well, honestly, yes. If you have ever played a Resident Evil game and found a (you-know-what)load of ammo waiting for you, then you understand whatever room you’re about to go into is going to be difficult as hell. Same with Kaze and the Wild Masks. You go into a level with a new mask that does this ‘one thing’ and now you can’t really enjoy it because the game is setting you up for the level to cater to that mask and put you through small amounts of stress. For example, there is a level when you get an eagle mask. That mask allows you to fly, but then you have to fly and time out enemy barrages, spiked plants all around, and the capturing of collectibles as you go through it. There’s so much difficulty to the level that it’s hard to appreciate it. It’s a classic construct between new/shiny and ‘turn it up to 11’. Now, I respect PixelHive for that, but some people may not find the balance and ramping of difficulty to be enjoyable when you’re just trying to be entertained by the game.
One group of insane people who will find it fun are the speedrunners. PixelHive has built a game for you and you should embrace it. For example, when you obtain the lizard mask, Kaze is forced to continually run to the right. There is no stopping, there is no planning, there is just run and jump and hope you understand the patterns in front of you. I spent a good 20-30 minutes on the first level using the lizard mask. It essentially turned the gameplay into the Simon machine, where memorizing the jumps and executing at the right time meant progression. It was nerve-racking and a firm stance that speedrunners were a unique breed of people who enjoy the insanity of this type of gameplay. It was a ‘whew’ sort of moment when I got to a checkpoint and/or finished the level. While I enjoy those types of moments here and there, I don’t enjoy them as a constant. I play a game to have fun with a bit of stress served on the side.
The gameplay difficulty continued up from there.
The next level was a frozen terrain, where I put on the tiger mask and worked my way through moving platforms, large pointed ice drops, deadly spiked vines, and timing that only a speedrunner could fully enjoy. It was essentially the same deal as the lizard mask level, where I had to die multiple times to get the timing right. Too much ‘whew’ and not enough ‘wow’ for my taste. Most platformers back in the day threw challenges at you here and there, but it was more about having fun and seeing neatly design levels that don’t want to always kill you. Kaze just doesn’t play that way. When you arrive at the difficult, you stay at the difficult.
My negative attitude aside, the game is brilliant in how it’s soundly constructed, meticulously planned out, and how the masks come into play. None of the masks feel like a waste. The game captures everything it advertises it being and has a good amount of fun mechanics that are wonderfully thought through. Kaze can whip her ears around to hit enemies, she can bounce on enemies that don’t have spikes on them, and she can go Tails and helicopter her ears to float too and fro. The game is fun when it’s not running forward uncontrollably, and the beauty of its design is there.
You’ll need all of that training on the mechanics to go up against fun bosses, the first of which is a giant green spiked plant. The patterns to defeat the bosses are evident at least in your first go-around. The bosses can be incredibly difficult at times, but nonetheless a break from the described levels above. They feel like old-school platformer bosses, which kicks up that air of nostalgia the game promised it would. I’ve never felt relief making it to a boss as I have with Kaze and the Wild Masks. At times it made me feel accomplished but also gave me a break.
In addition to this, the game also encourages and motivates you to do better when completing levels. You have hidden levels that equal out to two green gem parts. You will find these levels clearly placed in different, sometimes inaccessible parts of the game. They equal out to challenges that will give you green gem halves, which are small goals during level completion. Then you have smaller purple gems that you collect and 100 is usually the starting goal for each level. Also included, you have letters that spell out K-A-Z-E the are laid out throughout the level. Should you collect those letters, the purple gems, as well as the green ones, then you fully complete the level, which can unlock artwork. It’s extra motivation to revisit levels, which is an option only for the brave and prepared (I’m sure there are a lot of those gamers out there).
Overall, the gameplay design of Kaze and the Wild Masks is brilliant. It’s also quite difficult and will probably be a challenge for speedrunners and folks who love torturing themselves on games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and there isn’t anything wrong with that at all. I grew up on Earthworm Jim, so getting tortured pleasantly on a platformer isn’t anything new.
It does look old school
PixelHive did a darn good job of matching the style and execution of old platformers from the 90s. They have that pixelated look to it with intricate animation that reminds us visually how pretty and fun platformers could be. The style and movement of Kaze are reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog, where you can see that angry determination that carries an air of toughness with the character. The characters were designed well, they move well, and they live within creative levels that have personalities of their own.
Bringing it home
Kaze and the Wild Masks starts off as an innocent platformer from the 90s but goes from first to fifth gear quickly in difficulty. Ramping up to large amounts of difficulty and enjoying the scenery is what made platformers in the 90s good. With Kaze, the difficulty is such a dramatic shift that you’re stuck not having the ability to stop and smell the flowers that PixelHive has worked so hard to grow.
