KLAUS reminds players that this isn’t your run-of-the-mill puzzle platformer but rather, pokes fun at the genre itself through a unique narrative and catchy visual style.
Developer: La Cosa Entertainment
Price: $19.99
Platform: PS4
Monstervine was supplied with a PS4 code for review.
Released only on the PS4 so far, KLAUS takes advantage of the system’s features, in particular, the touchpad and controller’s speaker. The audible grunts and noises emitted while traversing the game’s levels provides a nice touch of refinement from the independent developers, La Cosa Entertainment. The touch pad allows players to interact with the level’s environments, ranging from flipping a platform to its desired state or moving them in range to perform a jump. If you’ve seen its earlier iteration on mobile, the rationale of its touch controls being present here make a lot of sense. With that said, the touchpad felt a little too sensitive at times and could be adjusted better.
As for the player itself, KLAUS often reminds you of the existential crisis of ‘who’ and ‘where’ by remaining as vague about the story as possible. I won’t trouble you with spoilers but suffice to say, the journey of going through the levels is more of a focus here. The narrative is explained through pop ups of text embedded throughout and often pans to a ‘fourth-wall’ humor that playfully interacts with the player. This works in tandem with the level design itself, where at times a forced feedback rumble initiates an auto-scrolling challenge where you’ll have to complete the level and its obstacles in a timely fashion or otherwise be thrown off-screen.
Jump, run, double jump are just a few of the movements expected of a platformer of this fare. Later levels layer on these basic foundations with a co-op twist and the introduction of a second controllable character named K. This larger than life version of the player is able to smash through obstacles that were previously impossible to get through. K can also toss the player to vertically unreachable places and the duo work hand-in-hand to solve the puzzles ahead. Checkpoints are also peppered throughout making attempts of trial-and-error a less stressful one. Think Super Meat Boy, now consider if Meat Boy was in a crisis of consciousness, and you get KLAUS. The challenge of platformers in 2016 is the variety of challenges presented to the player. More often than not, its gradual progression can wear down interest if there isn’t enough of a draw to keep coming back. For KLAUS, it’s the exact opposite.
The mystery and intrigue of the narrative and solving the levels themselves were competent enough and can be seen in the ‘off-the-beaten path’ secret levels. These secret levels flip the script with its ‘this is not what it seems’ moments. For example, in one of these instances the game only allows you to move left and the challenge here is to reach the end through manipulating the environment and roadblocks. If you do, you’ll collect fragments of a door that ultimately reveal more about the story’s premise. Although this part is entirely optional, it’s an additional layer that recognizes the element of discovery and rewards the player for taking their time to search every nook and cranny.
The Final Word
KLAUS is ultimately intriguing enough to hold your attention, whether it be played through once, multiple times, or even as a speed run. The folks at La Cosa certainly took inspiration from games of this genre and brought their own vision to life with a subverted take on its conventions bringing delightful surprises along the way.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
