REKA Review — River Kitten

REKA puts players into the titular shoes of a young witch coming into her own and discovering her newfound powers. Seeking out Baba Jaga, the legendary mother of witches, Reka and the woman set out into the rural forests of a fictional Slavic countryside atop a walking, chicken-legged house. Guided by the witch, you seek to complete the trials that will attune you to the natural world and develop your magic, discovering mythical creatures and your own potential along the way.

I covered REKA before its original Early Access (EA) launch in 2024. Then, I thought the game was a fantastic new survival title that stood out among others on the market, but it certainly needed a bit of work before it became a fully fleshed-out experience. While the former is still true, I can certainly say that REKA has come a long way since the first impression I was given of it, and it has really turned into a well-put-together title.

Performance has certainly improved since REKA‘s Early Access run. Where I previously had some not-so-perfect frame rates, the game now runs incredibly smoothly on the highest settings. This was one of the biggest issues I saw players complain about during the game’s EA run, so anyone who wanted to play REKA but couldn’t handle its performance will be happy to know the 1.0 version is a major step up.

I wouldn’t call REKA a survival game, but it is most assuredly a crafting game. REKA sees you traveling from map to map, exploring small areas in a somewhat linear story about your young witch’s trials. Along the way, you are expected to gather materials from the wilderness around you and craft them into furniture, food, and spell components in what is decidedly the most cottagecore of the crafting games I have played. The title even has you dealing with woodland spirits, who challenge you not to take too much from the natural world without first getting permission.

All of the gathering mechanics are handled through a series of witchy spells and powers discovered during your apprenticeship with Baba Jaga. Gathering, for example, is done by summoning helpful crows to pick the materials you need off the ground, rather than getting your hands dirty yourself.

I think this exemplifies what makes REKA so unique as a crafting game: its full commitment to the setting and aesthetic it wants players to experience. REKA is a game for witches, about witches, and it unapologetically offers an honest and faithful look at the witchy world, including all of the mythology that comes with it. Slavic folklore is deeply entrenched in the setting, as is a faithfulness to the aesthetics and beliefs of pagan witchcraft. I can’t imagine many modern-day practitioners feeling misrepresented by this title.

House building in REKA is phenomenal in the 1.0 release. If you somehow weren’t aware, the game revolves around you piloting your chicken-legged house through the rural Slavic woods, just like in the Baba Yaga legend. Said house is up to you to build, with everything above the chicken-legged platform yours to build on. You do so with some basic-shaped pieces resembling fantasy-enhanced rural Slavic dwellings. The game lets you enter a free-flying camera mode while building and, my favorite part, automatically shapes basic wall pieces based on what they connect to. So if you were to, say, build a wall into the incline of a roof, the wall will automatically cut itself to fit the roof’s shape. This alone is an excellent feature that saves a lot of time with house building, and when paired with the gorgeous furniture and building pieces you can unlock, it allows for some great player structures.

If I had to complain about anything in REKA, it would be the way its more linear nature somewhat limits player freedom. You do not have access to all tools from the very start, and it takes some progress through the game to unlock them. This seriously limits replayability, and I think REKA is a title you would honestly only want to play through once, even if you can get some good time out of that first playthrough. In addition, some aspects of the game, particularly when it comes to questing, can be a bit repetitive. However, if you are really sold on the magic of the setting, I don’t think these are problems you’re likely to notice.

REKA is a bold entry into the crafting genre. It knows what it wants to be, it knows who its audience is, and it faithfully portrays that audience’s world and mythos for them to enjoy. It is aesthetically unique and creative, and it stands out from many other games in the genre. If the title has caught your eye, I highly recommend giving it a try. It might be a bit shorter than you expected, and it might not offer a lot on a replay, but you should still enjoy it the first time around.

Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam key for this PC review of REKA. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! REKA is available on Steam.