Kraino Origins Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · Published March 28, 2023 · Updated March 27, 2023

For our Kraino Origins Review, we Fight monsters, ghosts, and zombies with our mighty scythe! Find all the secrets, and unlock powerful weapons! Avoid saws, fireballs, pools of acid, and spikes! Kraino Origins is retro gaming goodness! a retro action platformer with fast-paced melee combat, magic abilities, and hidden power-ups! Slash your way through 8 ghoul-filled levels. Avoid traps and hazards to make it to the boss for an epic final battle!

Kraino Origins Review Pros:

Decent pixel art graphics.
385MB download size.
Four color palettes including one that is clearly the Gameboy green filter.
Five save slots.
In-game cutscenes.
World map level select.
Can skip cutscenes.
2D platformer gameplay.
Has a Shovel Knight look and feel to it.
Breakable objects that drop coins and gems.
Hidden areas.
When you die you leave a percentage of your coins in a bee that you have one life to get back to in order to reclaim coins.
Metroidvania game where you get new abilities so you can get into other previously unreachable areas.
Big boss encounters.
Slick animations.
Enemies respawn when you leave and re-enter a screen so you can farm coins.
Drops are randomized.
Abilities (usually ranged) use man to use.
Enemies can also drop mana and health.
You have a down attack that allows you to in essence pogo attack an enemy to death.
Infinite lives.

Kraino Origins Review Cons:

No touchscreen support.
The plus mode option has no description.
Cannot rebind controls.
Difficulty spikes.
Not always the best at guiding you through.
No real tutorial.

Kraino Origins:

Official website.

Developer: GameAtomic

Publisher: eldenpixels

Store Links –

Nintendo

7/10
Graphics - 7/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
7/10
Accessibility - 7/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
7/10
Fun Factor - 7/10

7/10

Summary

Kraino Origins is a great platformer with a light Metroidvania touch to proceedings. With little in the way of tutorial or guidance you will be happy to know the game is actually quite accessible and easy to get into. It has a Shovel knight look and feel, in fact, it uses the death mechanic from it. Each death drops a percentage of your coins and you have one life to get it back. Even with so many comparisons to the Shovel Knight games it’s still a good source to draw from and Kraino Origins is a ton of fun to play. I like how I can change the filter and give it a Gameboy look. It’s a good fit for the Nintendo Switch as a quick session soon turns into hours just purely because the game moves at a pace and is just fun to play. Grab coins and buy upgrades and new weapons and take on clever bosses but ultimately it’s the actual platforming part where Kraino Origins shines. A good platformer.