This game has flew under my radar for years now, but finally I’ve played it and I think, the game is phenomenal. Though, it’s not hard to imagine why it’s not so popular, or even well-reviewed. The greatest strengths of the game are the atmosphere, story and presentation, which are hard to convey through RM Net page, and require specific audience.

That said, let’s look at what we have at hand. We are dealing with a game described by the author as a "tactical action game" and it is difficult to disagree, but let’s concentrate on the story first. We follow Florien "Flo" Kealborn, a paid assassin. She operates in the city of Rolsara, which is practically taken over by mafias and where orders for the liquidation of “Dead Meat” - her targets - are a way to settle disputes between criminal clans.



I could write about the plot and the atmosphere of the game, but they are something that is definitely worth checking out yourself, especially since the story of the game ,contained in five short chapters, is full of secrets to discover and interesting revelations. The atmosphere, direction and consistency of the game impressed me from the very beginning, and kept their quality to the very end. The game's aesthetics is maintained in the atmosphere of an 80s action movie (one of the darker ones).

The selection of music is brilliant and tracks come from various sources, some pieces, like the theme in the menu and a few others are really catchy. The visuals are rich in original graphics, and the interface is original and stylish. Aesthetics and themes of the game contain noir and the paranormal, but I recommend that everyone give this game a chance, regardless of preferences, because the style of the game is made remarkably well for an RM game.



The story itself, despite the small cliffhanger and announced continuations (there is a demo of a spinoff and the sequel) is a whole that closes in three-four, maybe five hours. I don't want reveal too much, but I will say that it revolves around Florien and the titlular Karma. We will see conflicts between gangs, the tragic beginnings of the assassin's career, and the collapse of organization she belongs to will be explained. In the games world, Karma began to work - an unexplained phenomenon that began to punish murderers. It’s consequences as well attempts to deceive this Karma by Florien are one of the most well executed themes I’ve seen in RM games, or at least is stands in the top three.

Karma is also an axis around which the game's coherence is built, because the gameplay connects closely with it. Before we get to that, however, I must add that the plot has some minor flaws. Characters aren’t necessarily among them - they are generally charismatic, but also lack some depth. Florien is in the foreground, her character is appropriate and you can even like her, provided that she is a rather cold heroine. Because the game is short, the background is completely minimal, but this can be considered an advantage. A more visible problem in the game are sometimes strange dialogues and a few strange story decisions, which, however, can be ignored.



Gameplay in Karma Flow is based on a simple formula: sneaking on rather large maps, avoiding patrols and eliminating the target. Sneaking is quite poorly done, unfortunately. It is difficult to determine when the opponents see us and when they don’t, their detection range is too great, and the alarm lasts too long. The maps are built in a simple way and each of them contains minor side tasks, usually about finding something. Florien fights with a knife, firearms and proximity mines. Combat works like simple ABS, based on pressing action key, fortunately the enemies die from one hit and it works pretty well, although there are typical problems arising from such a system. The great advantage of the game is the diversity of missions, especially the Karma cheating system - killing people with a direct shot becomes prohibited and you have to attack using the environment - for example "mirrors" reflecting shots. There are also boss fights, which, however, have a problem with their construction, especially the second one - it's hard to find out what exactly you need to do to win and it’s frustrating.



At the highest level of difficulty, the game doesn’t tolerate mistakes, and after each episode we get a summary and score. There is also an interesting tip system - before mission you can buy for a considerable amount information regarding the location of the target or other tips. Unfortunately, this concept doesn’t really work. Although you do have to locate the moving target on the map, the game is too simple and chaotic for tips to work well.

All in all, Karma Flow is a game with a great story, which only significant disadvantages are quite average gameplay and moderate length. There are also two others things to mention. The first is the ability to log in to the GameJolt portal, because the game launcher allows it. However, this service only offers comparison of results and achievements. The second thing is unlocking additional materials in the game. To get them all, however, you need to complete the game in 100% (with side activities), which I didn't wanted to do because of game’s mechanics. Nevertheless, I will definitely come back to this game someday and I look forward to the sequel.