Banya’s Koi is a game built around memory and identity, with small pond creatures standing in for both. Players step into the role of a helper, tasked with guiding a koi carp back through its lost past. The premise reads as plain at first, but the game ends up feeling odder than expected. It runs on Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), and Mac, and it draws heavily on a song that shares its name.
The setup is simple: you come across a koi carp thrashing on the ground during your journey home, and once you place it back into your garden lake, it turns out to be the Spirit of the Pond. That single detail is all he can recall. From there, the game revolves around assisting him in recovering his lost memories, and through that process, the player may also uncover something about their own nature.
The Koi Carp and Its Memories
Koi centers on The Spirit of the Pond, a figure whose memory loss forms the game’s core concern. The narrative returns repeatedly to what losing a memory costs and what keeping one preserves. The koi carp’s restoration demands more than merely locating an item or uttering certain phrases. Instead, it calls for endurance, repeated attempts, and a readiness to view the pond from fresh perspectives.
A recovered memory from the Spirit of the Pond reveals a moment from its past, and these glimpses tend to be short, vivid, and full of color. The game leaves some things unexplained, and that lack of clarity is precisely what makes it stay with players. Players must put together the fragments of the koi carp’s life themselves, and working through those pieces feels personal, almost meditative.
The recovery system brings together both the game’s best features and its weakest points. Every memory connects to a particular action or place, and players who study their surroundings receive a reward for doing so. However, the puzzles sometimes come across as random, and certain solutions demand repeated attempts before they work at all.
The Garden Lake and Its Surroundings
Koi takes place in a garden where a lake sits amid familiar domestic surroundings. Its look stays soft and painterly throughout, favoring greens, blues, and earth tones for its colors. Lighting changes gently over time, and the water mirrors the sky with purpose rather than simply dressing up the scene.
The game maintains a feeling of calm from start to finish, including its darker scenes. The lake never leaves the player’s view, and the koi carp’s motions beneath the water hold a heaviness that the rest of the experience finds hard to equal. The settings are built to reward looking around, yet the pace slows to a crawl during long stretches of aimless wandering.
The Music and Its Influence
The title comes from a track by the singer-songwriter Gen Hoshino, named “Koi” (恋, which means Love). It appeared as her ninth single on 5 October 2016, issued through Victor Entertainment and Speedstar Records. The song’s words concern how love changes and varies, along with the many meanings it has as society and time shift.
Following his previous single, Sun, Hoshino felt pressure to live up to what he saw as high expectations. That led him to write the song with a desire to change the idea of “love,” breaking away from the standard picture of a man and a woman in a marriage. It also became the theme song for the TBS television show The Full-Time Wife Escapist, where he appeared alongside Yui Aragaki. The director of the show was looking for something easy to move to, and Hoshino had already been thinking along those lines himself.
In Japan, the song became a commercial hit, starting at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and the Billboard Japan Hot 100. Within a week, it rose to number one, eventually selling more than 2.3 million copies in the country. The song also took home song of the year at the Japan Gold Disc Award.
The song’s influence went beyond the charts. It sparked the viral “Koi Dance,” choreographed by Mikiko Mizuno, which took three months to develop. The dance was featured in the end credits of each episode of The Full-Time Wife Escapist, and the song and the dance were featured in a Fortnite.
The Pacing Problem
Koi revolves around memory and identity, spending much of its runtime pondering loss and preservation. Its brevity serves as both an asset and a drawback. The fundamental loop holds up well, yet the game fails to expand upon it sufficiently. The opening hours stand out for their original ideas and sense of wonder. The middle portion loses momentum, with recurring tasks that feel more like chores than genuine puzzles.
This title has a brief duration, and that brevity is what draws people in. It ends before it grows tiresome, and the concluding chapter pays off the prior exertion. Yet the path leading up to it is inconsistent, and certain players might wish for additional material or a firmer arrangement.
What Works
- The recovery system rewards observation and curiosity.
- The visuals are beautiful and evocative.
- The music sets a strong emotional tone.
- The ending delivers a genuine payoff.
What Does Not Work
- Some puzzles feel arbitrary and require repeated attempts.
- The pacing slows significantly in the middle stretch.
- The game’s scope is limited, and it could have used more variation.
A Short Review
The pond creatures in Koi serve as stand-ins for memory and identity, and the game aims to feel meditative, with occasional success. Its recovery system stands as the game’s most original contribution, while its visuals remain its strongest feature. However, pacing issues and a narrow focus prevent it from reaching true greatness.
This game is brief, and its brevity cuts both ways. It wastes no time, yet it offers little room for depth. The conclusion delivers real reward, though reaching it demands patience the game does not always merit.
The Final Word
The ideas behind Koi and its visual design make it worth playing, yet the game does not fully realize its own goals. Its recovery system is a clever mechanic, the music stays with you, and the ending carries real weight. What keeps it from greatness, though, is its pacing problems and limited scope.
An hour or two of this game offers a solid, modest contribution to its genre, worth taking the time to enjoy. However, it does not ask for a second look, and it will not be recalled fondly years from now.
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