Ivan the (Not So) Terrible.

Yaga is an action RPG steeped in Slavic folklore that tells the story of Ivan, an unlucky one-armed blacksmith who becomes accidentally embroiled in a supernatural beef and ends up on the adventure of his lifetime. You see the Baba Yaga, that mysterious old woman who dwells deep in the forest in a house built on chicken legs, has placed a curse on the evil Tzar, convincing him he must rid his land of Ivan – he can’t kill him, lest his empire turns to sand – and so the Tzar sends the blacksmith on a series of seemingly impossible missions in order to be rid of him. Unfortunately for the Tzar, Ivan’s mother – who really just wants to see him settle down and find a wife – has an answer for everything and helps her son achieve the impossible time after time.

It’s an entertaining set up, backed up by some excellent voice-acting, and Yaga’s roots in Slavic mythology, its wonderfully curious cast of human characters, menagerie of twisted creatures and thumping Romanian folk/dance soundtrack give the game a distinctive personality that manages to lift proceedings in the face of some pretty average combat, pedestrian level design and a handful of mechanics based around the choices you make during your playthrough that don’t work as well as they should do.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com