Krut: The Mythic Wings Review (PC)

I quickly jump around a plan that can spew toxic projectiles and also seems more than happy to take a chunk of my character if I stand too close to it. A mix of jumping and slashing attacks takes it down, clearing a path to the mini-boss that stalks the middle of the level. A forest giant that bears a striking resemblance to Groot blocks my path, using boulders and powerful grabs to quickly whittle down my health.

I try to learn its moves and counter at the right time, but I finally succumb to his assault. Unfortunately, I have invested my currency in improved attack and combos, and I chose not to unlock a checkpoint. This means I am now right back at the beginning of the level, with plenty of enemies standing between my warrior and the forest boss.

Krut: The Mythic Wings is developed by RSU Horizon, Good Job Multimedia, and Pixel Perfex. Publishing is handled by Blowfish Studios. I played the game on the PC using Steam, but it is also offered on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X and S, and older devices from Sony and Microsoft. The title mixes action and platforming mechanics with a narrative inspired by Thai mythology.

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Players will take on the role of Veera, a capable warrior of the Krut, as he tries to fight back against an invading warlord named Zurah. The only way to stop his assault is to use the wings from the title to reach bosses and then defeat them to gain access to elemental powers. The story is based on a Thai movie and is decent, although there’s little to differentiate it from a pretty standard video game hero journey.

Krut: The Mythic Wings is a very classic take on the action platformer genre. Veera moves fast, with access to a double jump and a quick dodge roll. The warrior can deliver a normal and a strong attack with his weapons, mixing them to deliver more powerful combos. He will also be able to tap into the power of the wings to gain access to a new form for a short time. Using these classic tools, Veera will have to engage a variety of enemies across levels, pushing forward to secure the power he needs to defeat Zurah.

The best part of Krut: The Mythic Wings are the boss encounters, which happen both in the middle of a level and at its end. Their designs and their powers are varied and require a period of dodging and evaluation before the player can craft a strategy to take them down. It is a good idea to save up on the Veera’s special ability for these battles.

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The most controversial element of the game is the decision to use the same currency to unlock checkpoints and upgrade the protagonist’s powers. It adds a layer of choice, but it also feels like a cheap way to increase the difficulty. Moving through the levels again is not fun, so after a few deaths, I chose to always get the save point and only then see if I could make Veera more powerful. This meant that I always felt a little underpowered when engaging bosses, but that can be mitigated by learning their move set and by using jumps and rolls to avoid taking damage.

The game also fails to make platforming interesting. At first, it is hard to know what’s a solid surface and some of the deaths feel unfair. The developers should have dropped these sections or somehow integrate them better into the flow of the levels.

Krut: The Mythic Wings has a pretty cool presentation. Veera is a good-looking main character and I like his combat animations, especially when he deploys his wing-powered special ability. The mini and end bosses for each level also have a lot of detail and personality, clearly infused with Thai culture. The levels themselves are less impressive, especially when it comes to identifying the jumping sequences that killed me more times than my enemies did. The sound design is the weaker part of the presentation, with music that is repetitive and pretty generic.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion