Greak: Memories of Azur tells the story of three Courine siblings who are split up and must reunite after their land has been ravaged by the Urlag invasion.  This 2D Metroidvania-style game features hand-drawn environments, an epic soundtrack with some strong fantasy vibes, and three playable characters, the youngest sibling, Greak, the middle sibling and sister Adara, and their big brother Raydel.

Greak is a small and nimble little dude who can fight with his sword and crossbow and crawl through narrow tunnels, while Adara can temporarily float in the air, shoot projectiles, and last longer underwater.  Most of the game is spent controlling these two characters, who must work together to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.  Raydel doesn’t appear until fairly late into the game, though I actually think this makes their eventual reunion that much more impactful and the first bit of gameplay with him even more epic.  As for Raydel’s abilities, he has a sword like Greak, along with a shield and grappling hook, although his heavy armor means he can’t swim.

One cool thing about Greak is the ability to move all of the characters at once, which is a nice feature considering that some games with multiple playable characters (such as The Lost Vikings and Shady Part of Me) require you to move each character individually.  Sometimes the characters can get out of sync, making movements and jumping off, but this can be fixed by holding down one of the right triggers, which makes any character you’re not directly controlling run over to you (provided you’re not too far away, of course).  Plus, whoever isn’t currently your main character will automatically attack, even if you leave them alone somewhere, meaning they won’t be completely helpless.

Greak’s difficulty and artstyle give it some Hollow Knight vibes, though this game is also far smaller and only took me about 8 hours to complete.  One feature that increases the challenge is the fact that healing items take some time to work, so you’d best be prepared to avoid enemy attacks until they take effect.  While I generally enjoyed the difficulty level of the game, it could get rather annoying when it came to the boss battles.  Difficult encounters with larger enemies is totally fine on its own, but the problem arises when you’re attempting to survive these battles with two or even three characters.  It’s just not terribly easy to swap between multiple characters and heal them (especially with the delayed effect of these items) in the middle of a hectic battle.  I actually fought the final boss with just one character and got through on my first try because I didn’t have anyone else to worry about.

Greak: Memories of Azur was a worthwhile experience, though I actually wish it had been a longer, bigger adventure.  After buying more space for my inventory, finding upgrades to my characters’ health and abilities, and completing various sidequests, all this extra effort almost felt rather pointless just for the game to be over so quickly.  The game also seemed like it had some interesting lore that I would have liked to learn more about.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed what little time I had with the game and would highly recommend it to anyone just looking for a short and sweet fantasy experience with the added gimmick of three playable characters that is generally well-executed.  I just hope we eventually get a sequel that expands on the game’s world more than this one did.  Greak: Memories of Azur is available on all major consoles and PC for $19.99, though you can get it on sale for $5.99.