Review by: Michael Barnes

There was one moment in Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom where I loved the game. My character, Tepeu, had been separated from his partner, the hulking Majin. I had been almost killed in combat with gooey, darkness-tarred adversaries. Without him and his elemental powers and healing ability, I was weak. Onscreen, the damage was evident as Tepeu was covered in sticky black ooze and slowly becoming infected with the same corruption that had laid to waste the once-glorious kingdom that serves as the game’s ruined setting. I was in dire straits. I needed the Majin.

After flipping a switch and releasing a lock so that he could open a door (turns out he needed me as much as I needed him, at least to reach certain areas and to feed him a healing fruit from time to time) the Majin appeared. For a second, I was truly glad to see my in-game friend and once again I felt charmed by the almost Jim Henson-like quality of the character design. He opened his mouth and vacuumed off all of the darkness, and we were a team again.

It was actually kind of magical in a codependent kind of way and it speaks to a much more interesting type of partnership-based puzzle solving than boosting Elena up a wall so that she can kick down a fire escape ladder or throwing Trip across a wide gap so she can press a button. Majin, on a mechanical level, features some truly great AI-assisted “co op” gameplay. The puzzles and many of the combat situations that Tepeu and the Majin face require a real understanding of ability and limitation, and when the game is at its best, it plays almost like a LEGEND OF ZELDA dungeon crossed with a game where you have some tactical control over a non-player character.

Unfortunately, many of the puzzles and their goals quickly become repetitious, although the Majin earns a new elemental power then another puzzle type becomes unlocked so there is a progressive, evolutionary drive. Just like in a ZELDA game, you’ll eventually use that newfound power to take on a boss. Outside of the fun boss battles and a few areas where ambushes and traps can be laid for the bad guys, the combat is where Majin really starts to fall apart.

It’s a very simple brawler system with a basic stealth mechanic that enables Tepeu to execute some thiefly backstab attacks if he manages to sneak up on an enemy. Combat is tedious despite partnership finishing moves and the Majin’s powers to breathe fire, emit lighting, and so on and its repetitious nature is driven home by all of the backtracking the game requires. Walking back through a previously visited area to return to a section where you need a new power to cross a boundary means that you’ll be fighting everything that was there once again. Fast-travel rooms emerge later in the game, and you’ll be thankful for them.