#sectordub

Pikuniku 2 Trailer

Sectordub and Devolver Digital's Pikuniku 2 a puzzle exploration game full of whimsy.

Recently Completed: Pikuniku (Xbox One)

This is an extremely charming platformer in which Piku, a red thing with legs, wakes up in a cave and eventually goes on to destroy capitalism. Along the way you will solve small puzzles, have pleasant and funny interactions with other folks living on the island, and use your mighty kick on practically everything you come across.

The game is short and cute, much like Piku, and perfect to play with your three-year-old daughter watching. We called it the “red bean game” given the protagonist’s shape. 

There’s a gag near the end in which the villain’s robots realize they’re not being paid equally, and the villain tries to placate them by talking about “free exposure” and “resume experience” rather than actual payment. Boo! Hiss!

Pikuniku offers moments of enjoyment and humour, but can be tedious and trivial. It shines when embracing its natural strangeness, but sometimes feels forced in its attempt to be weird.

Who would have imagined that Devolver Digital, a company that initially gained popularity by publishing games from the Serious Sam series, known for their frenzied and bloody nature, would one day release a game as cute and harmless as Pikuniku? Well, this game seems to symbolize the path the publisher has been taking for some time now, moving away from the monotonous identity that made it famous…

A Short Distraction - A Pikuniku Review

Genre: Adventure

Subgenre: Adventure Platformer

Developer: Sectordub

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Platform(s): Xbox, Switch, PC (Reviewed on Xbox Series X)

Release Date: January 24th, 2019

As a follower of Devolver, I couldn’t help but notice the marketing for Pikuniku. The art style is very distinctive, and I figured I’d give it a try someday. When I saw the game on Xbox Game Pass and needed some games to play on my new Xbox Series X, I figured I’d give the game a shot. But does this quirky platformer have enough substance to stand on its own? Let’s find out.

The game: Pikuniku by Sectordub

Score: I liked it!

What’s the mood? This one’s cuuuute.

{Screenshot from Pikuniku, cropped to zoom in on the title character jumping in a cornfield as a scarecrow and bluebirds look on. His little legs are so cute, I die.}

Piku, the player character, is a little red oval with buttonhole eyes and long legs. One day, Piku leaves their cave and discovers that the nearby village believes they are a terrifying beast. Piku proceeds to help them with various small quests, and ultimately saves them from the robots and scheming of local capitalist, Mr. Sunshine.

The game is primarily a platformer, which is not my favorite or best format, but it’s engaging and never punishing. It took me two or three days to complete the story, but a more accomplished player could likely do it in one.

My favorite aspect is the cute wiggly movements of Piku and other characters. Piku works exclusively with their legs--walking and jumping, kicking, or collapsing to swim or release themself with a sproing motion--and collects some very cute hats. One of the funniest sequences involves helping a jello-jiggly swollen worm named Ernie get home.

The most difficult parts for me were the very first boss fight, and kicking a ball with enough ollie at the right angle to leave it depressing a switch in a bonus area. My sense is that children would enjoy it quite a bit, especially since it has a two-player mode, but I wasn’t bored as an adult.

Themes? Anti-capitalism and the importance of preserving natural resources! Also friendship, not leaping to conclusions, and the value of stopping to look at the insects around you.

Are the platformer elements broken up? Yes! There are a nice variety of brief minigames, including a Dance Dance Revolution-style dance battle with a robot. Mostly the humor kept me from getting frustrated with my skill level, but the regular changes of scenery and introduction of simple strategy puzzles to open new areas pulled their weight effectively.

Criticisms? The devs are French and English, but chose to subtitle the game in Japanese. I cannot find a reason for this beyond, I suppose, thinking it would appeal to their target audience. If you’re specifically looking for Japanese-made games, Pikuniku isn’t that.

More relevant to the experience of the game itself, I sometimes found it difficult to parse which objects were important to interact with and how. I was also very frustrated to realize that on PC, you cannot play co-op without owning a connectable controller; for a game with such straightforward controls, I don’t understand why they chose not to enable a split between arrow keys and awsd.

Otherwise, it’s “like” not “love” simply because it’s a delightful game that I don’t think I’ll find especially memorable.

I can only review the co-op portion of this game, having played it with my brother. It lacks the full off-beat story of the main game, but nevertheless is a delightful and charming physics-platformer.