Garuda Saga is an upcoming Indian-inspired mobile roguelike published by Krafton
- Krafton's new India-exclusive mobile game represents the vast size of the market
- But are we missing out on some great, region-locked exclusives?
- And can we hope to get a new wave of releases like we've had from Chinese developers?
Krafton is once more pushing hard into the Indian market, this time with a new game - Garuda Saga - based heavily around Indian mythology, published in partnership with developer Alchemist Games. It's exclusive to India and features the titular mythical deity as well as Vedic-inspired art. But it also features some oddities we'll get into.
In religious literature, Garuda is a Hindu deity that is an ally of Vishnu, often depicted as bird-like or in the form of a giant bird. In-game this translates to a pretty stylish bird-beak mask worn by Garuda, who wields a longbow. However, unfortunately, this is where the similarities end, as Garuda Saga unfortunately drops the ball on the rest of the design; pitting Garuda against very cartoonish and uninspired enemies on a rather dreary backdrop.
Not so faithful
Even by looking at the trailer above, one can see how, despite some interesting-looking gameplay obviously inspired by the popular roguelike genre, Garuda Saga doesn't do much to distinguish itself. With weirdly cutesy enemies and cutscenes set alongside some actually quite detailed designs on the main character.
It's doubly a shame because domestic developers like SuperGaming have shown how inspiration in their latest game, Indus, comes from the rich history of India. It shows how cultural inspiration can be taken to produce interesting, arresting visual design in games like Indus. Yet it seems Krafton didn't fully take that on board in their partnership with developer Alchemist Games.
We can't yet vouch for how the game actually plays, as it's currently only available in India. Hopefully, we'll get a global release soon and be able to find out for ourselves. But if you enjoy roguelikes, you can always check out our list of the top 7 mobile games like Dead Cells to find your latest hardcore craze.
Meanwhile, if you're looking for other games that are available for the low entry price of nothing, you can take a look at our decisive list of the top 25 free games to play on Android.
