| Creatures of Ava | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Preorder & DLC | Review |
Creatures of Ava is a creature-collecting adventure where you are tasked to rescue animals from a dying world. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Creatures of Ava Review Overview
What is Creatures of Ava?
You play as Vic, a 22-year-old adventurer set on saving the animals and fighting the infection head-on at the planet Ava. Vic uses her special flute to tame the corrupted animals, releasing them from the infection. Once these animals have been cured, they’ll return to their previous peaceful states. Travel through Ava’s vast and varied ecosystems and help out everyone and everything you encounter.
You’ll eventually gain a more meaningful connection with the world of Ava, and you’ll soon come to understand the infection on a deeper level. Solve the secrets of Ava and face Vic’s own troubled past.
Creatures of Ava features:
⚫︎ Discreet, open areas to explore
⚫︎ Material crafting
⚫︎ Basic defense-based combat
⚫︎ Creature possession mechanics
⚫︎ Puzzle sections
⚫︎ NPC side quests
⚫︎ An assortment of creatures to collect
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Creatures of Ava's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 GOG |
 Xbox |
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| Price | $24.99 | ||||
Creatures of Ava Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Absolutely Beautiful World Creatures of Pretty |
Story’s Just Bad The Fun Quickly Dies Off Utterly Forgettable Music |
Creatures of Ava Overall Score - 70/100
Don’t judge a book by its cover. While that old adage usually means that there are more profound things hidden underneath a substandard exterior, in Creatures of Ava’s case, it’s the opposite. The game looks absolutely beautiful, that’s true. However, its story will make you question your expenses, the gameplay ages very quickly, and the music can actually trigger premature dementia. The game is very cheap, though, so it balances out to some extent.
Creatures of Ava Story - 4/10
Although Creatures of Ava has quite a lot of (dissatisfying) worldbuilding, the plot itself is bland enough that reading through the decently lengthy dialogues feels like a chore. The characters, too, contribute to the poor narrative due to their forced personalities and annoying, almost insensitive dialogue. Many of its events are also either chronologically or narratively baffling, which results in an ever-growing feeling of dissonance that is never addressed even until the end.
Creatures of Ava Gameplay - 7/10
Simple, fun, but with a short shelf life. Those are apt words to describe Creatures of Ava’s gameplay. Overall, the gameplay leans more on a net positive experience for players due to its rather stylish features and mechanics. There are also an abundance of things to discover, particularly for the completionist in people. It could use a bit more variety to the "combat," however. Major fights are fine, but having to do the same dance with mobs over and over again isn’t very exciting.
Creatures of Ava Visuals - 10/10
Everything in Creatures of Ava looks absolutely stunning. That’s it. That’s the review.
Kidding aside (though I wasn’t), Creatures of Ava somehow managed to mix strange landscapes, alien plant life, modern and primitive architecture, and mysterious ruins in order to create truly wonderful views. Perhaps it's the weird feeling that comes with seeing the outlandish and familiar mix together so well that makes it so nice to look at?
Creatures of Ava Audio - 6/10
It’s been a while since I’ve heard of a game with truly awkward voice acting. Were the voice actors even aware of the scenarios? There are even times when their tones would shift drastically, making me think, "Huh? Did I just skip a line or two?" It’s music ain’t much better, either. Regardless of whether we’re referring to its BGM or the music from its central flute-playing mechanic, all of the tunes are so forgettable that you’d be excused to completely forget about them the second you close the game.
At least the sound effects are decent.
Creatures of Ava Value for Money - 8/10
I’ve honestly seen worse games come out at double or even triple the price. That said, $24.99 is an incredibly cheap asking price, despite the game’s various faults. Heck, Creatures of Ava’s sceneries and monster designs together are probably worth $19.99 already.
Creatures of Ava Review: A Bland Poaching Simulator
As an unabashed creature collecting/monster-taming fan (where is my Monster Hunter Stories 3, CAPCOM?) Creatures of Ava might seem like it would be an instant hit. That’s what I believed, too, as the game was downloading on my Xbox.
And I was right. For a while, at least. Creatures of Ava opened to a very pretty 2D animation that transitioned into a beautiful 3D world. The gameplay was also very intriguing and subtly resembled Breath of the Wild and, weirdly enough, Control in various ways. Plus, the game’s almost exclusively defensive style of what would pass as "combat" felt pretty fresh due to all the action-packed and aggressive titles I’ve been playing recently.
However, that elation didn’t last very long. Within just a couple of hours into the game, I’ve already found myself in a conundrum.
I was bored. But not only that, I was stuck. That’s because, in my zealous rush to save the creatures of Ava (I said the thing) from mass-extinction, I accidentally "rescued" all of the creatures in an area without knowing that it would soft-lock me from beating the game.
See, one of the core gameplay elements of Creatures of Ava is something resembling the deeds of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. In this case, you use a flute in order to charm animals into following you into a rescue bot and teleport them to outer space. Is that a good thing? I’m obliged to tell you at this point that yes, it is.
The game also allows you to take control of these animals in order to use their abilities to manipulate certain aspects of the terrain. For example, some of them can lower bridges by chewing through rope, and some of them can open up new passageways to traverse. Understandably, since these animals can only exist within specific areas of the map, completely exhausting their numbers in one place can brick your save by making everything else inaccessible due to progression reasons.
Anyway, I played through the game again and came upon the first issue (again). I was bored. Very much so, actually. The reason? Well, Creatures of Ava might have a rather refined gameplay, but it’s actually quite barebones underneath all the fancy special effects.
The gameplay loop can be summarized by the following: Collect creatures, purify the infected, and solve puzzles. There’s the occasional and dreadful fetch quests here and there, but the majority of the game revolves around the aforementioned stuff.
Not only that, the number of ways you can go about completing your missions always involve the same things. This is likely due to a thematic decision Creatures of Ava revolves around.
Nothing in the game is violent. Explicitly, at least. The decision to keep Creatures of Ava, a game that features "combat" of all things, non-violent severely restricts your freedom. It’s always something sanitary, like controlling your creature to a glowing objective, or being restricted to dodging attacks while your magic beam of magic slowly rids them of their ailments.
Even your skills don’t help a lot with making things interesting. They only really function as something to enable you to engage with its snoozefest of a gameplay. It definitely has its charms, though.
Except the puzzles. I hate them. They don’t deserve to be called puzzles at all. Like, how is fitting the most obvious puzzle pieces together engaging? Unless you’re legally blind, there’s no way the puzzle sections can pose a challenge.
That’s not where the problems end. I also found the narrative incredibly difficult to immerse myself with. This one is difficult to properly convey without spoilers, though, especially since I think this is the game’s worst aspect. But suffice it to say that it has everything from forced character personalities, conflict resolution speedruns, and baffling continuities.
Honestly, it really dampened my mood, even if the themes themselves were pretty interesting. The ending was especially dull, given that the game didn’t really allow itself to build up to anything.
So, should you get Creatures of Ava? Quite frankly… yes. Surprisingly. Even after all of my complaints, the game does have one thing going for it: aesthetics. That alone, plus its many hours of gameplay across multiple beautiful biomes, makes the relatively cheap $24.99 price tag worth it.
But please don’t expect any Game of the Year-tier experience. You won’t get that here. Heck, it's not even a cozy game unless you consider repetitive and unrewarding gameplay as "cozy."
Pros of Creatures of Ava
| Things Creatures of Ava Got Right |
|---|
|
Absolutely Beautiful World Creatures of Pretty |
Absolutely Beautiful World
Creating a world seemingly teeming with biodiversity is pretty difficult. Some games tend to put excessive effort into it. This results in an environment that basically resembles a kaleidoscope, but without the awe that comes with it.
On the other hand, Creatures of Ava’s areas follow very specific palettes that are pleasing to the eye. The fauna that spawns in those places also follow the color theme well.
But perhaps the most praiseworthy part about Creatures of Ava is just how beautiful some of their sceneries are. They have somehow managed to mix strange landscapes, alien plant life, modern and primitive architecture, and mysterious ruins in order to create truly wonderful views. Fortunately, they are well-aware of their feat, as each area comes with numerous high vantage points so you can take screenshots more easily.
Creatures of Pretty
The game’s creatures resemble how Pokemon tends to make their designs. Essentially, they can be boiled down to taking animals or objects and combining them with either other creatures or objects. While that may make them look rather uninspired at times, there’s enough charm put into their forms that they make the game’s objective of "saving" them very fulfilling.
Cuteness is power, after all. It’s a shame that the variety leaves a lot to be desired.
Cons of Creatures of Ava
| Things That Creatures of Ava Can Improve |
|---|
|
Story’s Just Bad The Fun Quickly Dies Off Utterly Forgettable Music |
Story’s Just Bad
If you’re looking for an unsatisfying narrative experience, look no further than Creatures of Ava. It has everything from forced character personalities, conflict resolution speedruns, and baffling continuities.
Hell, this is the only game I've played in ages where major conflicts arise and conclude within 5 minutes. The game is actually speedrunning through entire story arcs.
Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to properly describe each without spoiling anything. But Creatures of Ava seems to like presenting its story and elements in a way that feels almost coerced to the player. Are they expecting us to just take it in stride and focus on the theme?
No way that’s happening.
The Fun Quickly Dies Off
The first few hours of playing Creatures of Ava was undoubtedly a fun time. Creature collecting games are some of my favorite types, with the recent Palworld being my go-to for particularly dull weekends and Pokémon Legends: Z-A being at the very top of my most anticipated games (please don’t release a buggy mess like Scarlet/Violet).
Creatures of Ava takes creature collection quite literally. At its core, the game is essentially no different from a sci-fi game version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, but with a bit of "combat" involved. Said combat is very passive, and mostly involves dodging attacks while your futuristic staff of inordinately advanced technology sucks out the impurities from enemies.
While there are some variations to the equation, like having the ability to levitate objects and stun enemies with the staff, there’s no real variety to it at the end of the day. The gameplay can simply be boiled down to a loop of poaching innocent animals and solving puzzles, with the "combat" mostly falling under the former.
Utterly Forgettable Music
One of the game’s main mechanics involve charming animals with a flute in order to have them march behind you (a la Pied Piper) or, uhh, temporarily rip out their souls and possess their bodies (figuratively) so you can use their unique abilities to interact with objects.
For such dramatic effects, you would expect the protagonist’s flute-playing to turn the heads of even the most stone-hearted ruffian, right? Sorry, but that’s not what you’ll get. Instead, you’ll mostly be playing the game to a set of lethargic tunes that only goes away once you whip out your flute—just to start playing some of the most mundane and dreary music on it.
Hell, I started writing this review mere minutes after I finished playing the game and I already can’t remember a single musical piece. That’s quite something to happen when it’s part of the game’s core experience.
Is Creatures of Ava Worth It?
Surprisingly, yes
Despite its issues, the fact that the game costs a mere $24.99 can’t be ignored. Sure, it ain’t the best game around, but there’s a clear abundance of effort put into this title. Plus, again, the game is pretty darn cheap for what it offers, so it (kind of) balances out. You can even pet all of the monsters you tame! If you can find it on sale, then I’d even say "hell yes."
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
GOG |
Xbox |
|||
| Price | $24.99 | ||||
Creatures of Ava FAQ
How many creatures are there in Creatures of Ava?
There’s around twenty types of creatures in Creatures of Ava. It’s not very strong on the biodiversity part.
Is Creatures of Ava open-world?
No, it isn’t. While each area may be open for exploration, they are entirely separate locations from other biomes or dungeons.
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Creatures of Ava Product Information
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| Title | CREATURES OF AVA |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 7, 2024 |
| Developer | Inverge Studios |
| Publisher | 11 bit studios |
| Supported Platforms | PC, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action-adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
