Of all the places you’ve visited, castles you’ve built, and houses you’ve decorated, which videogame location feels like your actual home? I’ll always have a soft spot for Skyrim’s Solitude. I also spent an enormously long time perfecting Ezio’s house in Assassin’s Creed 2. But Reka takes home comforts to a new, unique level. Part fantasy RPG, part crafting and building game, and definitely inspired by Valheim, in Reka, your domicile is also a living creature and your best companion. With traces of Mirror’s Edge and Tomb Raider (more on that later), if Reka’s piqued your interest, its Steam Early Access release is thankfully coming soon.
As the eponymous young witch Reka, your apprenticeship covers everything from foraging, crafting, building, and completing quests. A sandbox game with fantasy and RPG elements, your primary focus is to explore the deeply picturesque landscape and discover any locals in need of your help. Whether you choose to lend a hand is entirely up to you, but whatever you scavenge or earn, you can use it to improve and upgrade your house – your walking, living, chicken-legged house.
Wherever you go in Reka, you’re accompanied by your home, a benevolent, feathered creature that strides alongside you. I’ve been trying to work out the pun, something about chickens, coops, and then ‘co-op’ mechanics, but I can’t quite get there. Nevertheless, Reka is a diverse and highly explorable world where you can also craft recipes, tame wildlife, and unlock a huge variety of different spells.
And if you played and loved either Mirror’s Edge or the Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider series, you’re in good company. Rhianna Pratchett, whose credits also include Destroy All Humans and Prince of Persia, serves as Reka’s lead writer.
You can already try it thanks to a demo on Steam, but the Reka early access release date is now confirmed for Thursday September 12. If you want to take it for a spin or wishlist it now, just head here.
Otherwise, try some of the other best fantasy games, or maybe the best survival games on PC.
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