Kunai Reviews

Kunai is ranked in the 63rd percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
7.8 / 10.0
May 21, 2020

Kunai is a solid game. The genre formula sticks to the blueprint well enough to not mess it up. The game is of a decent length, and it has the right amount of difficulty most of the time, but the kunai movement sells you on what makes the game enjoyable. For genre fans, this is well worth checking out.

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7.5 / 10.0
Feb 11, 2020
Kunai - Easy Allies Review video thumbnail
TrueGaming
Top Critic
7.5 / 10.0
Feb 23, 2020

Kunai is an adorable experience that presents some enjoyable mechanics to the Metroidvania genre and keeps things varied and fun until the very end.

Review in Arabic | Read full review

73 / 100
Feb 12, 2020

Kunai is a short and sweet metroidvania with an exciting premise. In this era of rapid technological change, however, Kunai ultimately doesn't do enough to separate itself from the pack.

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7 / 10
Feb 6, 2020

Despite some tedious backtracking, Kunai's fast-paced combat and satisfying platforming are accentuated by smart level designs that make it a blast to play.

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USgamer
Top Critic
Feb 6, 2020

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to figure out where you're supposed to go at times, backtracking in Kunai is a bit of a pain, and the level design doesn't offer as many branching paths as its competition. But it's worth playing through the game's short runtime and this is a great foundation for a sequel.

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7 / 10
Feb 6, 2020

Kunai is an expressive, stylish and retro-tinged metroidvania that kept me engaged the entire time I played it. The feeling of slowly mastering the rope-kunai and being able to flawlessly swing around environments and flank enemies was incredibly satisfying. I only wish the rest of your abilities in the game had the same kind of skill ceiling to reach, because without any cool reasons to deflect bullets, why bother having the ability to do so in the first place?

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PC Invasion
Top Critic
7 / 10
Feb 13, 2020

Kunai is a bite-sized Metroidvania that's well worth the pick-up for the fast, frenetic action alone. Once all the foes have been fought and the bosses have been bested, the Kunai content well has run empty.

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Feb 6, 2020

Kunai knows grappling hooks are cool, so it gives you two of them. But beyond its best feature, it's an indie adventure that falls just a bit short of its excellent peers.

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7 / 10
Feb 6, 2020

Kunai is a classic yet breathless metroidvania game, which capitalize on its strong action and fun narration. The sympathic Tabby and its variety of expressions is a bless to see, but the art direction suffers from its unflaterring minimalism, and endless boss patterns that grows on frustration.

Review in French | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Jan 21, 2017

Kunai is a wonderful game that I am sure rewards a high level of mastery over its mechanics. It looks great, sounds amazing, and plays quite well for the most part. However, the bugs I encountered and some of the lackluster designs throughout the game often made me either sleepy-bored or frustrated at being killed by events largely out of my control. It feels clunky at some points and I believe needs just a bit more refining but it is a great game underneath it all.

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7 / 10.0
Feb 6, 2020

Kunai does plenty of things right, but doesn't really try to stand out from the crowd in any way.

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3.5 / 5.0
Feb 6, 2020

Maybe it's a little unfair to propose that Kunai's weaker spots are a result of the high bar games preceding it have set.

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7 / 10.0
Feb 7, 2020

KUNAI is a fast paced metroidvania, full of action and explosions, but it's hard to find in those pixel something new and fresh.

Review in Italian | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Feb 7, 2020

Thanks to some great controls and a diverse and satisfying set of weapons and tools, Kunai overcomes its weaknesses in level design to become a solid, fun platformer.

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7 / 10.0
Feb 5, 2020

Kunai is an impressive 2D action game. It follows the classic Metroidvania design, which offers a great adventure of exploration. But this is just a taste that won't last long.

Review in Chinese | Read full review

Evan Norris
Top Critic
7 / 10
Feb 6, 2020

If humanity truly is destined to fall, at least a cute tablet with a sword will avenge us.

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Feb 10, 2020

In summation, I still rather enjoyed KUNAI. I just wish it was a longer experience with a more coherent plot. That said, there’s tons of charm and humor here, and plenty of challenging and satisfying gameplay. Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong for only $16.99. I admire TurtleBlaze for this first Metroidvania, and even though it’s not perfect, I think it could be the starting point to many other tremendous projects. If you’re a fan of the genre, I’d say you owe it to yourself to pick this up.

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7 / 10.0
Feb 22, 2021

However, while the Kunai do add a lot of depth to your movement, I didn’t really find much else that made this game stick out, and the lackluster checkpoints do make certain parts more frustrating than they need to be. Still, if you love the genre, KUNAI is still worth a playthrough.

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6.5 / 10.0
Feb 6, 2020

Ultimately, Kunai is a competent and attractive Metroidvania title let down by uninspired game design, underutilized mechanics, and some bugs. Still, this isn't a bad effort by TurtleBlaze. In fact, I think a sequel that learns from this game's mistakes could be a blast.

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