Mulaka

A really nice indie game, which will let you discover ancient legends with an adventure that certainly does not shine for longevity (collecting all the collectibles we arrive to a duration of about 15 hours) but that is able to offer the right dose of epic.

Despite its cultural content and folklore context, Mulaka is a simple adventure game that still has to prove why it's different from other games in the genre.

In the end, Mulaka's disappoints by bolting a really interesting and rarely experienced setting to a rather unimaginative action game and and art style that might be divisive. The gameplay loop is so familiar that the story and Native American setting feel arbitrary. Never very challenging as an action game, Mulaka is best experienced as a brief portal into an unfamiliar culture.

Mulaka is a different game, which let the player discover a very interesting folklore. Clearly inspired by games like Okami or The Legend of Zelda, it does not do anything that has not been done before. However, its use of low-poly style gives it a unique personality. A great example of edutainment.

Mulaka has some promise, but some issues in certain areas. It has a really cool soundtrack, lovely atmosphere, and the hand drawn style of the graphics makes it stand out. Sadly, some of the mechanics just bring it down a bit. Perhaps with some future updates some of this can be fixed, but at least the foundations of the game are solid, and the story is genuinely interesting.

Mulaka is a simple game at heart with a lot of familiar traits. The open, low-poly landscapes and characters are reminiscent of Journey. The combat and puzzle elements are similar to Breath of the Wild and Okami. But thanks to the specific Tarahumara setting and characters, Mulaka still manages to have a personality and feel all its own.

Mulaka is an interesting game, although it doesn't do anythig particularly new. If you're looking for an adventure in a different world while you learn about a different culture, give it a try.

Lienzo’s Mulaka is an equally engaging and frustrating experience. The action-adventure game excels in its efforts to teach players unfamiliar with the Tarahumara people about the community’s culture through a beautiful narrative and exploration mechanics. However, the action aspect needs to be completely overhauled, as it offers enough issues to turn off prospective players.

A great story and setting drawn back because of its playable restraints.

While I appreciated the insight into the folklore of the Taramuhara people, Mulaka as a game is about as average as an action adventure title gets. It’s got some great ideas lurking within, but the overall structure is incredibly dated and only really saved thanks to the subject matter. As a game, it’s not really doing much that hasn’t been done better before, but as a cultural insight, it has a lot to offer those interested.

The team at Lienzo has built a beautiful and fascinating glimpse into an overlooked and forgotten culture that is immediately endearing. The game they built to support that, though, is disappointingly shallow and clumsily constructed. It’s nice to see game development coming out of Mexico, and I look forward to what they are able to do next, but Mulaka doesn’t have the chops to make the game worthwhile.

After playing Lienzo's highly underrated Hunter's Legacy, I was expecting a lot from Mulaka. Although it succeeds in having an engaging premise, it unfortunately fails to offer any satisfying gameplay.

There's enough ambition here to elevate Mulaka above a disappointment. [May 2018, p.88]

Ultimately, Mulaka succeeds in the story it wishes to tell, but it falls short in two of its primary gameplay tenets: action and adventure. Controls are fiddly, environments a little sparse, and combat inadequate. It excels in using the video game format to widen knowledge of a culture that admittedly many around the world will know very little about, but as a game to interact with, its deficiencies outshine its ideas and make it somewhat forgettable.