Ari Buktu and the Anytime Elevator is a warm and funny game | Hands-on preview
There’s a powerful nostalgic vibe running through the demo of Ari Buktu and the Anytime Elevator. I believe it’s the heady combination of 2000’s era platforming and the Doc Brown/Marty McFly relationship of our main character Ari and his slightly inept companion, Professor Raventhorpe. Even the soundtrack has a little touch of Alan Silvestri about it, instantly transporting me to my youth and time travelling shenanigans.
As Ari and the professor travel way back in a home-made time-travelling elevator to grab an ancient artefact, vying to impress the local history teacher, things rather predictably go awry leaving you stranded in the mists of time. In my experience so far with Ari Buktu and the Anytime Elevator, this puts you in Ancient Egypt, swinging, jumping and climbing your way through crumbling tombs in a 2.5D puzzle platformer.
With chunky, cartoon looks you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a 3D world to explore but it’s very much an on-rails experience with a lovely three dimensional sheen on top. That’s not to say that there’s nothing of interest hidden away, with relics to find and puzzles to solve, but I’ve really enjoyed the more streamlined gameplay experience. It feels tailored to appeal more to fans of old school platformers such as Rayman (Ari also having a “lack of limb” affliction) or Donkey Kong, even going as far as featuring a runaway minecart section that sees you ducking and jumping obstacles as you out-race your pursuers.
The platforming itself feels tight and responsive. It even manages to shoehorn in a mechanic that I’ve not seen before, rhythm based climbing. Timing your jumps to a sparkle on your next handhold will see you speedily fling yourself to the next crevice, whereas a poorly timed button press will slow your progress to a crawl. It’s not a mechanic that shakes the foundations of modern platformer design but it’s great to see new mechanics being used in an older style of game genre to keep things feeling fresh. Between this new idea, a tactile grappling hook that sees you throwing yourself through fragile wooden doors or across deadly drops and some solid moment to moment parkour, Ari feels supremely satisfying to manoeuvre through the shifting sands and dilapidated pillars in this ancient platforming playground.
Having been designed by a former Disney ride designer, it’s cute, it’s cuddly, and it has one heck of a great big feel-good factor running throughout. The characters are oddly relatable, maybe because we’ve seen the relationship before, but it never feels tired or played out, just heart-warming and strangely soothing.
A brief stint with a 30-minute demo just wasn’t enough and I’ve found myself doing something pretty much unheard of: I played through it again. So if that’s not a recommendation, I don’t know what is. With 13 levels across 6 varied environments being promised, an elevator of my own would come in handy to shorten the wait for what is shaping up to be a warm and funny adventure game for gamers of all ages.
Ari Buktu and the Anytime Elevator is “coming soon” to PC via Steam.
