Keen – One Girl Army | Steam Review

June 24, 2020 Scott Clark

As much fun as it is to see AAA games at E3, one of my favorite aspects of the expo is discovering hidden gems. I had a chance to get hands-on with Keen – One Girl Army last year. Unfortunately, I had very limited time with the game, and the portion I played was well past the tutorial stage. I got the gist of what was going on, but wasn’t completely sold on the game. After playing through the final build, I’m pleasantly surprised by what developer Cat Nigiri put together.

Slide to the Left

Keen – One Girl Army is a sliding puzzle game, but it has a cute story to go with it. Kim is a twelve year old girl who lives in a remote village. Peace reigned for centuries until Kim’s trainer (who happens to be her grandmother) senses a distress call. Grandma orders her to protect the village, despite never experiencing violence in her life. As she travels through her world, she uncovers a sinister domination plot and several unexpected twists and turns.

The story is rather cute. Kim’s spunky attitude makes for interesting dialogue and inner monologue. The plot isn’t incredibly in-depth, but it ties the game together quite well. I much prefer having the narrative to simply playing each puzzle without any shred of a story.

Slide to the Right

The real reason to play Keen is the puzzles. The gameplay reminds me of those sliding puzzles I played with as a kid. You know the ones were you had to slide pieces of a picture around a grid until they completed a picture? In this case, however, you’re only moving one of those pieces, and that piece is Kim.

Kim follows a very specific rule set. For starters, she can only move horizontally and vertically and will not stop until she hits a wall or obstacle. The enemies on each screen only move when she does, but they follow a specific pattern based on where Kim is in the room. You land attacks on these enemies by either sliding through them or landing next to them. The flip side is that you don’t want to leave yourself in a position where an enemy lands next to you, otherwise you’ll suffer an attack. It’s a very clever take on a sliding puzzle game that takes only a short while to get down. The best part is that it’s possible to complete each room without taking a single hit, if you’re smart enough to figure out the trick. This adds some replayability after you’ve completed the story.

The levels are broken down into two types. The first is very linear; you complete a room and move on to the next until you reach the end. The second type feels more like a dungeon in a Zelda game. You’ll have to find keys, unlock doors, and work your way to the boss. I appreciated both styles, but often found myself getting lost in the dungeon-maps. I would have preferred markers on the map to remind me of where I was trying to go. But this is only a minor concern.

Everybody Clap Your Hands

I walked away from Keen – One Girl Army enjoying it far more than I expected to. Its 6-8 hour length was very much appreciated, so the game never feels like it overstays its welcome. The puzzles are brilliantly satisfying, it has the right amount of attitude, and its pink-flavored color palette is easy on the eyes. This is definitely a hidden gem of the year that could easily get buried amongst an onslaught of higher-budgeted games on the horizon. Do yourself a favor and don’t let this one pass you by.

To hear me talk more about Keen – One Girl Army, be sure to listen to Episode 301 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast (to be released a week after this writing).

This review is based on a Steam copy of Keen – One Girl Army provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It will also available on Nintendo Switch on July 2nd.