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However, I had the nagging feeling that Pikuniku ’s puzzle sections, while largely clever in making the most of the game’s limited mechanics, were intermissions in between the good stuff – spending time discussing silly things with other characters. This highly self-aware and occasionally morbid sense of humour is delightfully endearing and is why Pikuniku is such a nice game to chill out with.

Pikuniku length full#

In the first few minutes of the game, you encounter a friendly ghost who warps the classic Zelda line “It’s dangerous to go alone, take this” to eschew giving you anything tangible, instead offering you their full moral support in the absence of a spectral being owning any worldly possessions. What really elevates these interactions is the witty and particularly millennial gallows humour brand of writing, sans complete grammar and punctuation for comedic effect, akin to what you would see on Twitter and Tumblr.

To divulge more of the many silly encounters in Pikuniku would spoil the hilarity and spontaneity of these moments, but trust me that they are varied and all equally as entertaining. Early on in the first village you visit, one of the residents challenges you to a game of their invented sport, which is essentially basketball, but you kick a watermelon into a basket. Your bread’s jammed in the toaster? Just a good ol’ roundhouse kick will fix it up nicely!ĭoing away with many recent games’ philosophies of tighter controls, more frames, and hours upon hours of content, Pikuniku favours entertaining interactions between its characters, of which there are plenty to enjoy. Plus, Pikuniku imparts the lesson that nearly all problems can be solved by kicking them. Instead of having precise control over your character, every basic movement adds to the humour, as the balance between their lanky legs and stout body is askew, flipping hilariously in the air following every jump. Pikuniku isn’t about tight platforming, though, so this doesn’t present any genuine issues beyond a floaty feel to the controls. It’s all very simple and easy to control, although I’m not a huge fan of the lack of jump sensitivity all jumps reach the same height regardless of how long you hold down the button. Pikuniku features the basics of a 2D platformer, giving you full control over your leggy protagonist, along with the ability to jump, roll, grapple, and kick your way to a better future.

From here, you do what you can to help the locals out and join an uprising of adorable proportions. After a short while, following a mishap where your playable ellipse with legs is wrongly imprisoned, you learn that the “garbage” collection is more sinister than you’re led to believe.

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who explains that they offer free money in exchange for letting their robots pick up “garbage” unhindered. Beginning with an infomercial-like cutscene, you’re introduced to the leader of Sunshine Inc. Set in a bizarro world inhabited by weirdly-shaped blob people and various sentient objects, Pikuniku touches on Orwellian elements of constant surveillance under the watch of the sickly sweet Sunshine Incorporated. Packed with whimsy and surrealist humour, Pikuniku is a delightful puzzle exploration jaunt in a self-proclaimed delightful dystopia, despite being a little light-on in the gameplay department. Pikuniku – Puzzles and Picnics PC, Switch