Kairo

Overview

Kairo is Locked Door Puzzle's first commercial game title, following on from their freeware adventure game the white chamber. The game began development in 2010 and throughout most of this period was available in alpha form made aviable to pre-order customers. The game is a 3D exploration game with a focus on puzzle solving and has often been compared to Myst in its gameplay style.

Story

Kairo has a minimalist storytelling style with no direct narrative or exposition. Upon starting, the player is dropped into a white abyss with no context as to why they're there or what they're meant to do. The story is told indirectly through things the player finds in the environment and the the apparent effects of the machines they are repairing throughout the game.

Gameplay

Kairo is a first person exploration game and uses standard first person movement controls and has no additional means of interacting with the environment.

Much of the focus of the game comes from moving through the environments, seeing what you can find there, and experimenting with how the world reacts to your presence. The games features multiple hub areas that allow exploration off in different directions.

As the player explores they will find broken down machines that need to be repaired to in order to progress. With no direct interaction buttons, or inventory, these puzzles are solved by a combination of pushing objects or levels, standing on switches, or having the world itself realign based on player movement.

Reception

Kairo has been selected for display at various indie games festivals include Develop Conference, Notgamesfest, Pax East 2012, and Eurogamer Expo.