Don’t you just hate it when you wake up from a really weird dream and find that you’ve somehow ended up in an even weirder reality? I suppose that’s mainly a problem for video game characters, such as the titular character in REKA, developed by Emberstone Entertainment and published by Fireshine Games. You play as the titular Reka, a young girl who discovers in just about the strangest way possible that she’s a witch. Reka starts out having found herself in a small village whose residents openly spread rumors about a strange old woman who lives in the nearby woods.

What you hear about that old woman depends on who you ask: Some villagers know she’s a witch who provides a variety of helpful services to anyone who has the means to strike a deal with her and holds up their end of it, lest they meet an unfortunate fate. Others swear she’s to be avoided at all costs because she has teeth made of iron, eyes red as hellfire, and a tendency to eat children who wander too close to her home. Still others see her as simply a raggedy elder who does nothing but gather reagents while mumbling nonsense to herself.

When you finally meet the old woman in question, she says she’s been expecting you for quite some time. You have no idea how that could be, but something tells you to just go along with everything she says. Of course, her repeated threats to eat you if you don’t follow her instructions also help convince you that that’s the smart idea. Eventually, after you’ve helped the old woman complete several strange rituals in and near her home, she finally identifies herself: She’s Baba Jaga, the witch in Slavic folklore who lives in a hut with massive chicken-like legs sticking out of it.

Since you proved capable enough in doing everything Baba Jaga demanded of you and, thus, convinced her not to eat you, she has instead decided to take you on as her apprentice of sorts. Well, that, and she initially has to depend on you to get around; her chicken-legged hut will only listen to you for the time being, since Baba Jaga used a bit of your blood in the ritual to resurrect it. Each area you travel to with Baba Jaga will present you with a new main quest that you have to complete before you can continue to progress.

Talking to nearby NPCs can both help you gain additional information to help you complete that main quest, as well as introduce you to optional side quests you can complete while you’re at it if you feel so inclined. Baba Jaga warns you that you may not return to an area once you’ve left, so it’s pretty much always in your best interest to fully explore the map and complete as many side quests as you wish. You might find new items with which you can furnish and customize the chicken-hut you share with Baba Jaga while you explore.

Then, whenever you’ve completed the current main quest and you’re ready to leave the current area, you simply return to the chicken-hut, sit in a specific chair, and tell the hut to move into any nearby areas filled with thick fog. This fog serves as both a clear exit point once you’re able to leave, and a non-intrusive barrier that prevents you from leaving too early. In addition to furnishing the chicken-hut, you’re also in charge of building the hut itself, as well as gathering the necessary materials for that. Baba Jaga, of course, simply sits and watches while you run yourself ragged.

I enjoy being able to build and customize the chicken-hut even though, as I’ve discussed in previous reviews, I tend to struggle a fair bit when it comes to anything resembling competent architecture. I’m also really partial to just how much REKA is steeped in Slavic folklore. I consider myself a bit of a folklore and mythology buff, but considering how many new concepts to which I was introduced while playing REKA, it seems I’ve got quite a bit of brushing up to do on that front. I’m grateful that REKA has given me a new rabbit hole to go down in my free time.

REKA also features a pretty good array of accessibility options, which is always great to see. REKA additionally allows players to enable optional content warnings for certain quests that deal with topics players may find emotionally distressing or traumatic, such as the death of a loved one. That’s a really nice touch on its own, but REKA goes the extra mile by also ensuring players know that these content warnings may spoil certain aspects of the quests for which those warnings appear. REKA frequently auto-saves your progress, and allows you to save virtually anywhere, any time via the pause menu.

When REKA was first brought to my attention, I wasn’t sure how much it would be able to immerse me once I felt I had played enough to competently finish this review. Now that I’ve spent some quality time with REKA, however, I can easily see myself frequently returning to it whenever I’m off the clock and in the mood for a relaxing story-based game. If you’re a fan of games steeped in folklore and mythology in ways similar to those I’ve described here, or if you just want an accessible story-based game to play to unwind, here’s one I’d highly “REKA-mmend.”

A PC review copy of REKA was provided by Fireshine Games for this review.

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REKA

$19.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Good selection of accessibility options.
• Optional content warnings to help players steer clear of unpleasant subjects.
• Highly relaxing and immersive core gameplay loop.
• Agreeable price for this much content.

Cons

• Content warnings can spoil certain quests if enabled.
• There are currently graphical issues with things like UI scale with ultrawide monitor resolutions.