Dokuro Review

You Can Revisit Any Puzzle and Improve Your Run
In my playthough it wasn’t uncommon for me to look at the puzzles for a while and then finally figure them out. This can get annoying if you get a high time, but you’re free to go back and finish any puzzle quickly. This can be especially handy for anyone trying to collect every coin or just trying to earn trophies.

A Steal at $20 Dollars
Unlike most games at $20 dollars, Dokuro will certainly give you yours moneys worth. With several supported languages, a platinum trophy and as mentioned above 150+ puzzles to solve, you’re sure to be playing for hours on end. For the completionists out there , you can further expand your time by collecting every golden coin or trying to finish a level faster, so don’t think the game ends once you solved everything.

NOT

The Princess
While the puzzles in Dokuro are fantastic, the princess has some annoying AI. This is because you have to guide her to the end of any puzzle she appears in. Sure it might not sound annoying, but she is programmed to always move forward. This can lead to you accidently crushing her, picking her up, walking into enemies and my favorite walking into spikes. Thankfully she requires you to put her on higher or lower ground to progress, so setting up the level in such a way will allow you to get everything in place.

Story
The story in Dokuro is as clichéd as it gets. Simply put an evil ruler captures a princess to be his bride, but you’re there to stop it. You attempt to escape through her, though the castle is filled with traps / guards. Some people try to help you for their own ends, though there isn’t much going on here. Honestly the whole story only takes up an hour at most; so don’t expect much from it. I would say that it does a good job of simply justifying the gameplay, though you can always strive for more. The ending thankfully has a twist, so there is at least something to work towards.

VERDICT

Dokuro is easily one of the best games I’ve played on the Vita. Not only is the art style fantastic, the puzzles will certainly keep you entertained. Sadly there isn’t much to do after finishing it, but you should rack up about 12 hours of gameplay. I strongly suggest this to anyone that enjoys puzzle games or are just looking for something fun on their Vita.

[Editor’s Note: Dokuro was reviewed on the Playstation Vita platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]