Ankora:
Lost Days Review

Ankora: Lost Days (2022) is a puzzle adventure game where you explore the wild planet Ankora. As you play you craft different tools, build structures and create a new home in this friendly survival game. It stands out for the simple overhead perspective, steady progression and story about growing up, making friends and connecting with nature.

It's a game in the same universe of, although much earlier than, Deiland: Pocket Planet and Summer in Mara. You play Mûn, a Junior Ranger stranded on the unexplored planet Ankora. To survive you need to craft her own tools to collect the necessary resources for food and shelter. Along the way this involves navigated through different levels, overcoming obstacles like rivers, lakes, waterfalls, mountains and monsters.

As you progress you build structures, dig and modify the terrain and defend yourself with your bow. From your starting point you venture out into other biomes, from deserts to meadows to snowy mountains, each one packed with secrets. Progression is sometimes blocked by extreme temperatures, rain, freezing cold and blazing heat. But as you gain the right resources you can craft the things you need to survive.

The result is a survival game with a friendly, simpler edge. You need to work to do well, and progress isn't guaranteed, but the aesthetic and tile based world make this much more approachable. It's a game about managing resources to survive, but also it's a tale about coping with the world when you are only a child.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Ankora: Lost Days 13 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 5 months ago.