Paws and Soul

Paws and Soul is an exploratory adventure game , where the key element of fun is the search for collectibles (the game is completely free of fights with enemies). We observe the action of the game from the wolf's perspective, but the plot is about the people he meets. The game was created by the beginner Arkuda Inc. studio, cooperating with Polish publishers of Games Operators and PlayWay. The introduction to the story can be seen in the free demo Paws and Soul: First Step.

Plot

The aim of this story is to learn the fate of our previous incarnation in which we were human. Through the clues we get to know all his ups and downs, as well as the reason why he took the form of a wolf in his next life. The tone of current events is given by the generally prevailing meditative atmosphere, inspired by Buddhist attitudes and ideas. In this story, the fate of our loved ones and acquaintances of our previous incarnation is almost as important as his own. We regularly receive opportunities to learn about their emotions, reactions to our actions and reasons that shape their attitude towards us.

The entire story takes place in a magical forest divided into areas with different climate, corresponding to specific events in the life of the story's hero. We learn more about the following threads by listening to the comments of the wolf talking to each other and the visions we come across while exploring the forest. All observations are described to us when we get to the right place or when we perform a specific action that makes the animal think about its previous life.

Mechanics

The most noticeable aspect of the game is the total lack of enemies. In the game, we will not experience any battles, which was dictated by the concept using Buddhist ideas in the project. Instead, we have received a wide range of locations filling the available area, which often requires careful checking of every corner of the magical forest to find. As a wolf we can walk, run, jump and interact with various objects (e.g. by digging a hole in selected places so that we can find objects important for the plot). We have a lot of freedom when we travel around the world. In order to smooth out the exploration, the creators did not implement any penalties for failure to act, such as damage sustained after a fall from a high height.

Travelling through the forest was diversified by collecting special balls of spiritual energy. Collecting them unlocks various wolf bonuses and new areas for exploration - just place them in special power stones scattered around the forest. Apart from them we can also find special runic plates. Their activation consumes some of the wolf's energy and evokes visions from his previous life to tell the story. If an area is blocked and cannot be explored, the animal will inform us with a comment and automatically turn back.

Technical aspects

Paws and Soul low-poly graphic design gives the impression of being hand-painted and its artistic appearance is emphasized by refined lighting effects, unique to particular areas of the game world.