What is OKAVI — Swing through six biomes on vines that obey physics
OKAVI is a side-scrolling platformer whose central verb is not jumping but swinging. Hold the grab key near a glowing vine and you attach to it; the left and right keys pump the swing like a real pendulum, up and down climb the rope, and releasing throws you along whatever arc you were on at that instant. Everything else in the game is arranged around that one physical fact. Gaps are sized for a released swing, not for a jump, and the enemies sit where a badly timed release puts you.
Six biomes run from the Verdant Hollow to the Throne of Roots, and each ends with a root gate that will not open until you have gathered enough spirit orbs. The orbs are behind puzzles, and there are six kinds: a lever code that hums a sequence of lights, four braziers that must all be lit, rune rings you have to strike with your spin attack while mid-swing, boulders pushed onto pressure plates, elder statues that have to be turned to match a mural, and totems that double as checkpoints. Beating enemies gives experience, and every level up offers a boon — reach, momentum, an extra heart, a double jump, or a wider blade.
How to play
- Run with A and D, jump with W, slide down a vine with S. On a touch screen the six buttons along the bottom do the same jobs.
- Hold Space near a glowing vine to grab it and release to fly. A and D pump the swing to build height; W and S climb up and down the rope while attached.
- Press the attack key to spin your thorn blade. It kills beasts, it strikes rune rings, and it works in mid-air, which is how the ring puzzles are meant to be solved.
- Light a totem to set a checkpoint. Falling sends you back to the last one and adds to your Falls counter, which costs two hundred points each at the end.
Strategies that work
- Release at the top of the arc, not at the bottom. A pendulum is fastest at the lowest point but the velocity there is mostly downward; at the top of the forward swing it is mostly horizontal, which is what carries you across a gap. If a jump keeps falling short, you are letting go too early.
- Pump on the way down, not on the way up. Pressing towards the direction you are already travelling at the bottom of the swing adds energy; pressing at the top does almost nothing. Two clean pumps will usually double your reach.
- Save the spin for the rings. The rune-ring puzzle asks you to hit every ring before they fade, and the only way to reach them is mid-swing, which means you need the attack ready at the moment you pass. Do a dry run of the arc first without attacking, then repeat it with the spin.
- Take Sky Step over Bark Skin if you are chasing the leaderboard. The score is orbs times a hundred and fifty, plus level times two hundred and fifty, plus what is left of a twelve-thousand-point time bonus, minus two hundred per fall. An extra heart saves falls; a double jump saves seconds, and seconds are worth more.
- Push each boulder only after you have found its plate. Boulders cannot be pulled, so a boulder shoved past its plate is a restart of that section. Walk the area, find the plate, then decide which side of the boulder you need to stand on.
A little history
Vine swinging in games is normally faked: the character attaches, plays an animation and detaches at a fixed point, and the player's only input is when. OKAVI simulates it properly, and the difference shows up in the level design. A real pendulum means the player can build energy over several swings, which means a designer can place a ledge that is unreachable on the first arc and easy on the third, and that is a kind of difficulty no jump-based platformer can express. The six puzzle types exist to force the player off the vines at regular intervals so the swinging never becomes automatic, and the totem checkpoints exist because a physics-based traversal will always produce falls that are nobody's fault. In the daily challenge the one puzzle that varies — the lever code — is drawn from the day's date.
Frequently asked questions
Can I lose?
Not permanently. Losing all your hearts sends you back to the last lit totem and adds a fall to your counter. The run ends only when you defeat the Root Tyrant, which is also when your score is sent to the leaderboard.
I cannot reach a ledge. Am I missing an upgrade?
Usually not. Almost every gap in the game is reachable from the first biome with enough pumped swings, and the boons make it easier rather than possible. Try building energy over three arcs before assuming you need Sky Step.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Six on-screen buttons handle movement, jump, grab, attack and interact, and the swing responds to a thumb exactly as it does to a keyboard.
