Magic is Real.
Reka is a tale of a young witch learning to navigate a fast progressing world while still balancing the wisdom of the old ways that came before. Can you discover who you will become and also honorably bridge the old and the new? Make your way through the fog as I did and let's find out!
The curtain rises with you lost in a deep fog. You are being called by perhaps a greater purpose, pulling you in a direction you don't quite understand. But first, you need to think about who you are before starting to venture outwards. This is where you will customize your preferences on your appearance. Once that matter is settled, you can then continue on your way. You will soon come across a wandering merchant whose cart has lost a wheel and finds himself stuck on the path. You quickly help him and he is incredibly grateful.
Now, despite the warm welcome, from not only the grateful man, but from others that I encounter, I am constantly informed that I should stay away from the witch in the nearby woods. However, despite their warnings, you feel drawn to this woman, feeling as if everything about her is pulling you near.
However, before you trek out into the woods, you feel inclined to help many of the people in the village. From helping a woman tend to her pumpkin patch, to saving a baby goat from falling into an old well, these tasks not only help you learn about the people of the village, but also the whereabouts of the witch in the woods.
However, directions aside, you also hear tall tales of the witch, such as her kinship to evil, her reliance on the old ways, to even her eating various children that play a little too close to her house. These stories still don’t persuade you to run, they only play to your curiosity as you use the information you have to determine where exactly in the woods this woman resides.
So, my meeting with this woman felt not only as part of my destiny but also somewhat ordinary due to the tall tales building her up as this frightful and demonic presence. However, Baba Jaga albeit quite simple, is a bit abrasive of a woman. Still, she invites you in, and tasks you with collecting ingredients for a meal. Another task is collecting raspberries to trade with a local Lutki in the woods. These are little wooden totem spirits that live in the woods and are connected to nature.
However, these little wooden spirits have taken her talisman, and you are tasked with getting it back. This allows you to teleport back to her house, making it easier for her to send you out and collect what she needs with a prompt delivery at the end.
Now, part of the experience is getting to know Baba Jaga and understanding who she is apart from the stories that run rampant through the village and outside its borders. She is as ordinary as she seems, and not quite so much of the demon the stories that the villagers have made her out to be.
As you are tasked with various objectives, from gathering ingredients, to mentoring under her, as if to someday take her place, you are followed everywhere by her murder of crows. While they certainly aid in gathering items or breaking down scarecrows or hunting traps, they initially seem like they are there to babysit or track your deeds, as if Baba Jaga was constantly keeping an eye on you.
What gives Reka a different approach than most games where you either play as a witch or even train under one, is the sense of realism given to the magic. This isn’t the typical Harry Potter or mystical arts, but more of a grounded take we hear in stories of slavic folklore. This allows Reka to feel less fantastical, but for all the right reasons.
Early on, you are tasked by Baba Jaga to construct your own walking hut, a cabin with long chicken legs. While this type of magical home has been part of various iterations and stories, the folklore that this game is based on is where it originates. This house not only serves as a place to call home, but as a means to travel.
While fully customizable and complete with its own kitchen, you can also decorate it with gifts given to you from those you have helped in some form or fashion. The house also sports a chair constructed out of bones that upon sitting in it, allows you to communicate with the spirit of the house, causing it to sit and be stationary while you look around, or listen to your destination to allow it to travel there, albeit away from the eyes of those in the village.
During the game’s time in early access, more content rolled out last year that brought farming to the game. Upon completing a task at a nearby shrine, you’ll unlock the ability to plant seeds in the house. This allows you to have a more consistent means to gather the ingredients you need, such as wheat or garlic, as opposed to finding them on a nearby farm. And, as your crows have been helping you with various tasks, they too can aid in finding seeds to help you grow your garden further.
Planting is very simple and is accessed via your tools menu. There are three categories of seeds; Farming, Flowers, and Wild Plants. With a seed selected, a dome-like shape will appear where Reka is looking at, showing how much space each plant needs in order to grow. The dome’s color will indicate the space allotted and you’ll then continue on. Each plant has its own spacing requirements, with pumpkins, for example, needing quite a bit of space.
In addition to simple gardening, you can also brew potions at the Herbalist Workshop. This workshop can also be used to fashion bandages, charms, or produce more seeds. Similar to the oven, the Herbalist Workshop has three slots for ingredients for each recipe, and a queue of up to five that can be made at once. Potions can be used to help those you encounter that need the assistance.
When you are not tending to your plants or farms, connecting with lost souls is another feather in the game’s cap. This furthers the story even more as you attempt to help them find peace. From the use of Veles' Gaze mask and the Dziady Mask, you’ll use these to help the spirts and perform rituals.
The visuals are a treat to be surrounded by. Everything has an earthy tone and the experience is very much like being inside an old fairytale story book. Everything from the way the trees and plants dance on the breeze or sway when you pass through them, suggests a deeper magic to it than what's spoken of in the story.
Reka, in a lot of ways, is a journey of self discovery. For as much as you learn about Baba Jaga, you learn more about yourself and what you are capable of. The magic used in Reka is very grounded and based more on the Slavic folklore tales than how magic is usually showcased in various forms of media. The world here is brimming with a dark mystery around it, one that keeps not just the story interesting, but the connections you make with the world and its inhabitants. Reka is a delight and may catch people off guard with how chill and cozy it can be, especially due to the darker tones to its aesthetic and visuals.
The tale of Baba Jaga has been told many times before, and while certain aspects always remain, Reka handles itself in a fairly unique way by having you work alongside her, as opposed to simply existing away from those stories and believing in those tall tales. With its storybook charm and cozy tone to its presentation, Reka is one magical experience that can cast quite the spell on you.
From Emberstorm Entertainment: “We are a small, young indie studio working on our first game. In 2016 most of us met at University, where we started to study Game Design in Berlin. Since then we have worked on several projects together, learning and growing as individuals and also as a team. After our studies we decided to start our own game studio, Emberstorm Entertainment, aiming to create high quality games that are inclusive, fun to play and beautiful to look at. With Berlin being located in previously Slavic territory, we decided to make our debut title REKA, a game that incorporates Slavic culture and mythology.”
Developer - Emberstorm Entertainment.
Publisher - Fireshine Games.
Released - October 26th, 2026.
Available On - PC. (Steam)
Rated - (N/A) - No Descriptors.
Platform Reviewed - PC.
Review Access - A review code for REKA was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Rebecca is a huge fan of JRPG’s, RPG’s, and Survival Horror. From Silent Hill to Resident evil. Xenogears and Final Fantasy. When she isn’t tinkering with skill trees or equipping the right rifle to take down numerous monsters, you can find her farming away on Stardew Valley.