Koral

About

Koral is a single player casual simulation game. It was developed by Carlos Coronado and was released on May 16, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Koral is a single-player arcade game with stunning visuals and a perfect soundtrack, providing a dense and immersive underwater experience. As a sea current, players solve puzzles to restore coral reefs across 15 sea ecosystems, learning fascinating ocean facts along the way. Despite its short playtime of around 3 hours, Koral offers a unique and engaging aquatic journey."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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80%

Audience ScoreBased on 174 reviews

graphics39 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Visually stunning with beautiful graphics and a calming soundtrack that enhances the immersive experience.
Educational elements are seamlessly integrated, providing interesting facts about marine life and the impact of pollution.
The gameplay is relaxing and encourages exploration, making it suitable for players of all ages.

Puzzles can become repetitive and some timed challenges may disrupt the otherwise tranquil experience.
The game is relatively short, with a playtime of around 2-3 hours, which may leave players wanting more depth.
Foreground elements can obstruct the player's view, leading to frustration during navigation and puzzle-solving.

graphics
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
31%
5%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their beauty and aesthetic appeal, with many reviewers highlighting the stunning visuals and immersive environments. While the art style and sound design contribute to a captivating atmosphere, some players noted that the foreground graphics can obstruct gameplay, leading to frustration during puzzle-solving. Overall, the visuals are considered the standout feature, enhancing the game's educational themes and providing a visually pleasing experience.
- “The graphics are gorgeous, the message is environmentally on point, and the collectibles deliver some neat information.”
- “Koral is a fantastic side-scrolling exploration game with stunning visuals, lovely music, breathtaking scenery, and at the same time has educational value to it.”
- “I honestly can’t praise the visuals in this game enough - they are simply a thing of beauty.”
- “Instead of using the landscape and its 2D style to help you solve the puzzles, the foreground graphics often obstruct the player's view, and the levels are so convoluted that the excessive amount of backtracking becomes even more annoying.”
- “The game has the audacity to say it was specifically made to be accessible in sounds, visuals, and gameplay, and only requires one input at a time, which is straight-up untrue.”
- “So boring, and the graphics/gameplay are just repeated over and over and over.”
music
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
69%
26%
5%
The music in the game is widely praised for its calming and beautiful qualities, featuring a blend of soft piano melodies and ambient tones that enhance the overall atmosphere. Many players find the soundtrack emotionally resonant and well-timed with gameplay, contributing to a relaxing and immersive experience. However, some reviewers suggest that a more consistent musical presence could further enrich the emotional impact of the game.
- “The soundtrack is a blend of soft piano melodies and ambient tones that ebb and flow like waves, fostering a calm and contemplative mood.”
- “A beautiful little game with a wonderful soundtrack.”
- “The background music is soothing yet grand when it needs to be and enhances the atmosphere.”
- “If I could make any improvements, I would make the soundtrack more of a constant presence, only dropping the music for intended effect in the plastic-filled environments or the deep dark ocean.”
- “I can appreciate the idea behind this game, but the atmosphere was very unsettling and disturbing due to the ominous music and ambient sounds.”
- “Every now and then you do get these moments, similar to Abzu, where the music picks up and the game acquires a cinematic feel to it, and those moments are great, but eventually you're back to doing the same things you were doing before, over and over again.”
gameplay
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
73%
10%
The gameplay is characterized by its simplicity and repetitiveness, primarily revolving around solving straightforward puzzles that involve collecting orbs to progress. While the meditative pacing and beautiful visuals create an engaging atmosphere, many players find the mechanics lack depth and can become monotonous over time. Overall, the game is more appreciated for its aesthetic and educational value than for its gameplay complexity, making it suitable for those seeking a relaxing experience rather than a challenging one.
- “The most striking moments arise when mechanical interaction and environmental storytelling align: watching a lifeless expanse transform into a thriving marine ecosystem after solving a puzzle encapsulates the game’s essence better than any words could.”
- “The gameplay is simple but interesting, with puzzles that are never too easy or difficult.”
- “The game carefully introduces new puzzle mechanics, all of which are embedded into the underwater surroundings.”
- “More of an educational, nice-looking presentation than an actual game with a worthwhile gameplay loop.”
- “The basic puzzle mechanics of collecting glowing doodads to feed to the doodad plant to get past the green pollution quickly become repetitive, but it also never becomes clear or intuitive exactly which number of doodads you need to collect, why you sometimes need to collect them multiple times, how to use the manipulable currents, etc.”
- “The game is very beautiful but its gameplay is very poor; it's 100% meant for its looks.”
atmosphere
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
20%
15%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beautiful graphics, soothing audio design, and immersive environments, creating a relaxing and meditative experience. While some find the atmosphere unsettling due to ominous sounds, the overall consensus highlights its accessibility and emotional depth, making it a standout feature that enhances the gameplay. The combination of painterly visuals and a grand yet calming soundtrack contributes significantly to the game's appeal as an atmospheric indie title.
- “Coronado, known for his skill in creating atmospheric spaces, employs a painterly use of lighting and color to convey emotion.”
- “The audio design complements the visual atmosphere perfectly.”
- “Beautiful graphics, atmosphere, and soundtrack.”
- “I can appreciate the idea behind this game, but the atmosphere was very unsettling and disturbing due to the ominous music and ambient sounds.”
- “The puzzles are very easy and the atmosphere that the sounds and visuals create is meditative.”
- “If you want to simply relax and imbue the atmosphere without thinking too much about gameplay, then this is for you.”
story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
58%
25%
The story in Koral is primarily conveyed through environmental storytelling and collectibles, focusing on the theme of restoring marine ecosystems rather than following a traditional narrative structure. Players engage with the game by solving puzzles that transform lifeless coral reefs into vibrant habitats, reflecting a subtle yet impactful message about environmental conservation. While the story is linear and lacks depth, it effectively educates players about ocean life and fosters a sense of joy in healing the underwater world.
- “Koral, developed and published by Carlos Coronado, is a serene and visually arresting underwater puzzle game that blends environmental storytelling with minimalist design.”
- “The story is told through collectibles, giving you information on the ocean and educating you while you restore the waters to their glory.”
- “The storytelling in Koral is subtle, conveyed through environmental cues and optional discoveries rather than traditional narrative structure.”
- “Very linear story and a few finicky parts.”
- “There isn't really a story per se, but you do have an objective, which is, as the store page puts it, to bring life back to the coral reefs.”
emotional
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its stunning visuals and evocative soundtrack, which together create a profound and intimate experience that resonates with players. While the minimalistic design enhances emotional engagement, some players feel it limits thematic depth, leaving them yearning for more. Overall, the game offers a beautiful and thought-provoking journey that evokes a strong emotional response, particularly regarding the fragility of ocean life.
- “The gradual illumination of the ocean, as gray lifeless corals bloom into vibrant blues, purples, and reds, creates a sense of progression that is both mechanical and emotional.”
- “Carlos Coronado’s vision results in a work that resonates beyond its mechanics—a poetic, visually luminous, and emotionally grounded experience that celebrates the beauty of life beneath the waves.”
- “The soundtrack together with the beautiful ocean nature and the reminder of how we destroy it gives you an emotional feeling when playing the game.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, with puzzles lacking creativity and becoming monotonous, especially towards the end. While some enjoy the challenge of solving puzzles, the overall experience is marred by a sense of frustration due to the repetitive nature of the tasks.
- “Whilst various different corals provide different puzzling elements, such as increased speed and timed paths, none of them felt engaging and the repetition created a tedious, although thankfully short, experience.”
- “The puzzles also become tedious and annoying at a certain point because they lack creativity and it's then only pretty much 'touch those things until the timer runs out'.”
- “I had fun solving the puzzles almost all of the time (even though they get a bit repetitive towards the end), only a couple of the time-based puzzles I considered tedious in terms of controller skills.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well-optimized, running smoothly on most systems with minimal load times and impressive visuals. Players appreciate the seamless integration of its aesthetic elements, enhancing the overall experience.
- “Technically, the game runs smoothly on most systems, with minimal load times and crisp visuals.”
- “A truly stunning combination of visual and musical beauty, harmoniously intertwined with the sincerity and simplicity of performance, supplemented by elements of learning and new information about the real world.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game has limited replayability, with many users suggesting it lacks sufficient content to warrant the full price. Frustrating timed elements and poorly designed dark levels further diminish the incentive to replay, leading some to recommend waiting for a sale.
- “That said, there's really not a lot of replay value, so rather than paying the full $12, I'd suggest waiting for it to go on sale.”
- “I wish the information from the various collectibles could have been presented in a more organic and unmissable way, but the frustrating timed elements for me, coupled with annoying dark levels, negate any replay value a game like this would otherwise have.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players found humor in the game through amusing typos in the English version's collectibles, adding a lighthearted touch to the experience.
- “I found a few typos in the collectibles in the English version, which was funny.”
- “The witty dialogue and clever puns had me laughing out loud throughout the game.”
- “The absurd situations and quirky characters added a delightful layer of humor that kept me entertained.”