Dokuro (video game)

Dokuro is a video game developed by Game Arts and published by GungHo Online Entertainment originally for the PlayStation Vita^[2] with later ports to iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. The player controls Dokuro, who must save a princess after the Dark Lord wants to marry her.^[7]

Dokuro
Japanese PlayStation Vita box art
Developer(s)	Game Arts[1]
Publisher(s)	GungHo Online Entertainment[1][2]
Platform(s)	PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release	July 5, 2012 PS Vita JP: July 5, 2012[3] USA: October 16, 2012[1] CAN: November 6, 2012[4] PAL: January 30, 2013 iOS WW: June 30, 2013 JP: December 5, 2013 Android December 5, 2013 Windows December 8, 2014[5] Switch September 27, 2018[6]
Genre(s)	Puzzle[7][8]
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

The player is Dokuro, a skeletal worker for the Dark Lord.^[8] One day, the Dark Lord captures a princess and forces her to marry him.^[8] Dokuro sees the princess crying which breaks his heart and he thus decides to help her escape the Dark Lord's castle.^[8] Dokuro can flip switches to open up paths,^[9] carry the princess after drinking a potion,^[9] as well as others. The game's levels grow steadily more complex as the game progresses.^[1]

Development

The game uses a graphical style that imitates artwork in a children's storybook.^[8] The game's director, Noriaki Kazama, previously worked on gory video games such as Ninja Gaiden Sigma under Team Ninja.^[10] Kazama said that after he had a baby, he browsed through children's books at the bookstore and was inspired by the art style.^[10]

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	(iOS) 80/100[11] (Vita) 76/100[12] (Switch) 60/100[13] (PC) 59/100[14]

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	(Vita) B[15]
Destructoid	(Vita) 7/10[16]
Famitsu	(Vita) 34/40[17]
Game Informer	(Vita) 6/10[18]
GameRevolution	(PC) 5/10[19]
GameZone	(Vita) 9/10[20]
Hardcore Gamer	(Vita) 4.5/5[21]
IGN	(Vita) 8.8/10[7]
Joystiq	(Vita) [8]
Pocket Gamer	(iOS) [22] (Vita) [23]
PlayStation: The Official Magazine	(Vita) 8/10[24]
Push Square	(Vita) [25]
TouchArcade	(iOS) [26]
411Mania	(PC) 5.5/10[27]
The Digital Fix	(Vita) 7/10[28]

The PlayStation Vita and iOS versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the PC and Switch versions received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^{[11][12][13][14]} In Japan, Famitsu gave the Vita version a score of 34 out of 40.^[17]

IGN said of the PlayStation Vita version, "Stunningly beautiful and exceptionally fun to play, Dokuro belongs in the library of every PlayStation Vita owner."^[7] Joystiq claimed that "Despite the bony exterior, Dokuro feels like it has a real soul, like it was made by people who truly loved and believed in it. It's inspired, well-made, and thoroughly enchanting."^[8] Game Informer, however, gave the same Vita version a mixed review, stating, "Between its unforgiving nature, unbalanced difficulty, and humdrum puzzles, I wouldn't have pressed on through Dokuro if I wasn't reviewing it. Rarely did I feel that fun "a-ha" moment that makes puzzle games exciting; instead I found tedium and frustration. I surely wasn't as devoted to this game as Dokuro was to the princess."^[18]