Anki Demo

As puzzle aficionados would tell you, there’s just something exciting about the challenge of coming up with an answer to fit the problem. Hence, video games that put you face-to-face with difficult riddles or tough platforming sections are quite popular, even though they go to extreme lengths to be unforgiving with the players and punish every tiny mistake.

Anki doesn’t seem so complicated at first, especially since the goal is quite obvious from the beginning and there’s no confusion about what you should be doing. As such, your task is to collect all the crystals in each level and unlock the way further. After the first handful of stages, on the other hand, it becomes increasingly more difficult to avoid the traps and collect the crystals, which is when the fun begins.

The main character is cute enough to play with, but it leaves no impression on the long run, although maybe he isn’t supposed to. His abilities are quite mundane, and none of them include superpowers of any kind. There are some mechanics you can make use of to achieve slightly more impressive feats, such as jumping a bit higher and teleporting to the other side of the level by walking to the edge of the screen.

Part of what makes the game difficult is the fact that you need to perform a few tricks that require good coordination and fast reflexes. Hence, some jumps need to be timed perfectly in order to avoid the traps, not to mention the fact that you can pick up on patterns when it comes to the moving obstacles.

Although you have to deal with the lack of a third dimension, the game looks sharp and it is quite clear that the designers took their time creating the levels. Each stage has a different layout and the backgrounds change on a regular basis, although some textures and models remain the same, obviously. The animations are quite smooth as well, even if they are rather basic.

When it’s all said and done, Anki might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it has the potential to provide you with a few hours of solid fun. It feels rewarding to complete the levels successfully, which is always a plus in the genre.