World Design Exercise: Game #3 (Kairo)

Richard Perrin’s Kairo is a strong example of emotive environmental narrative, wherein the story of the game unfolds as the player explores a world devoid of representative imagery and dialogue, but primarily represented through brutalist inspired architecture. 

Right from the beginning the player appears to awaken from and within a white void, before a floating throne room of sorts. It becomes clear that the player is forced to move onward towards the only visible structure in the distance, and as they near the structure, audio cue chimes in, signalling to the player that they are on the right track and prompting them to proceed.

Fig. 1. The starting zone, straight away the player will notice a vague structure in the far distant that they can approach and explore.

When inside, the player will encounter a glowing rune (resembling a tree) engraved into a stone wall, and yet another throne with the same rune etched into it. Grooves in the ground will provide clue for the player to interact with the throne, pushing the two runes together. The fact that these runes are the only illustrated visual iconography the player will encounter in Kairo emphasizes the central role these symbols or runes have in aiding the player in solving the game's puzzles.

Fig. 2. Grooves on the floor is an intuitive visual cue for the player in this particular puzzle.

As the player walks, arches (reminiscent of Japanese Shinto gates, known as toriis) will appear, perhaps insinuating that as the player moves onward, they are transitioning into an area that is considered sacred, or even profane. These sort of imagery, while not blatant and explicit, helps add flavour to the game and allows for the player to connect and ground themselves within an already very alien space.

Which consequently, after a simple bridge puzzle, the player will encounter an area which seems to be a crude representation of what appears to be a park. Is this perhaps a breather for the player in the form of an abstracted oasis? This is probably befitting considering that the next area is a hub of some sort, with a central fixture surrounded by portals.

Fig. 3 & 4. The 'park' level as well as the centralized hub area that soon follows.

Every single portal leads to individually themed areas with corresponding puzzles, and what is interesting to note that despite the consistently brutalist (almost minimalist) architectural aesthetic, all of these separate rooms are still distinctively unique and different from one another, not only because of the fact that the rooms are clearly colour coded for the player’s convenience, but that structures come in forms and shapes that players can universally associate. Such as a generator, structures resembling a network of treehouses, and even a hallway resembling a mausoleum.

 

 
 

Fig. 5, 6, 7 & 8. The many different 'themed' rooms that the player will encounter, notice that despite the simplistic aesthetic of the architecture, they are all represented in ways where the player can recognize universal form and imagery.

Throughout the demo as well, the aforementioned rune appears in places, landmarks and crucial components of room puzzles as visual guide to assist the player in progressing. Completion of these puzzles will take the player back to the hub area, completing a full circle back to where the player started while simultaneously ultimately ending the demo.

Kairo's aesthetic choice is clearly communicated as a means for the player to focus on the gameplay and puzzles rather than having literal depictions of objects and contextualization to detract the player from the isolated and puzzle-heavy element of the game.

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(all screenshots were provided by the author of the post)