Bokura
Bokura is a 2023 co-op puzzle solving game and I’m remiss to offer more than that. Spoiler free for now—Bokura is a game I saw on TikTok and thought might be a good fit for playing with my partner. She wasn’t interested, but my good friend Dillon was. We went into the game only knowing the vague premise that each player sees two slightly different views and must solve puzzles together. But, dear reader, it is so much more than that.
Bokura is charming, sweet, heartfelt, absolutely aesthetic, and unnervingly weird. Attempting to recall a story from childhood, you play through a memory of the “Best Winter Ever” at age 10. From there, I won’t spoil more, but I insist that you go in blind as a bat. Take the game as it offers itself—a puzzle solving game with a twisting story. Overall, I’ve seen 50% of the game and am feeling obssessed with its character and design choices. The varying puzzles range from simple switch flipping to emotionally dense, weighty decisions that could change the game entirely.
At the core of the game, Bokura is interested squarely in childhood, memory, and trauma—these 3 pillars make up the brunt of the emotional gravity, but the magic trick of the game is how it uses childhood to tell this story. Bokura approaches narrative the way a child might tell a story with brutal, efficient honesty and a little exaggeration. That said I found the story both gut wrenching and somewhat flimsy, but that could be the nature of the narrator recalling the story as well, I truly haven’t decided yet. Oh, did I mention its unnerving? Because there are truly unsettling moments that were so unexpected I almost call non-sequitur. However, the game couches the weirdness at the top with the diverging player experiences
Yet, dear reader, if you are a gamer interested in puzzles and narratives that can use the puzzles to inform the greater themes of its characters and story try Bokura. Find a friend, send them the trailer, or, better yet this article!
But seriously, for 4 hours of your time and $5.50 I wouldn’t overthink it too much. As a multiplayer puzzle game, the beauty of Bokura is the puzzles are good and satisfying. The a-ha! moments are frequent, the two player puzzles are well designed for both characters. The story is weird, creepy, cute, sweet, and heartfelt above all else. If you do you play, please leave a comment below! I’d love to chat with others who have played this little-known game from 2023.