Pikuniku game Review - Delicious Morsel
Pikuniku: Puzzle, platform and smilesFree money! It is with this shattered promise that the player embarking on the strange adventure of Pikuniku is greeted for the first time. The British studio Sectordub has teamed up with Devolver to deliver a game with a hallucinatory scenario in a universe that is both minimalist and naive. Under the guise of a big anything imagined by a child, this colorful title reserves successful moments with a few platforms and a lot of puzzles. Is it still enough for the tangy recipe to be worth tasting by everyone?
I HAVE THE GUIBOLES THAT STICK, I HAVE THE HEELS, THAT MAKE GOOD
If you clicked on this test to admire the few screenshots there, then we can only confirm your idea of Pikuniku right away. Yes, the title edited by Devolver is graphically simple to make fans of minimalism scream with joy. With a touch of cowardly irony, we could swear that this is the prototype of a student project in Game Design whose graphic elements would have been made entirely in Paint. In this universe which borrows a lot from Monsieur Madame, the player embodies the strange Piku, a creature similar to a Strawberry Tic Tac on legs that tries to be of service to his companions. Its goal ? Prevent Sunshine Inc. from achieving its goals. Despite the apparent naivety that emanates from Pikuniku, the subject is intended to be ecological, since the terrible industrial robots plunder natural resources by using money to put people to sleep.
The simplicity of the artistic direction of this 2D platformer is found in the movements of the main character. The player has one button to hit and another to jump. He also has the ability to grab his big legs on hooks protruding from the ceilings, or to curl up to go faster. As the progression progresses, Piku gains new skills thanks to special hats, which gives him access to new areas as in any good self-respecting Metroidvania. Generally, the player is asked to complete different quests using both his dexterity and his gray matter. Whether it's rotating electrical circuits or finding a way to bring a rock to a switch, puzzles are simple if not truly original. The physics engine can sometimes lead to some errors, especially when it is asked to be precise with Piku's legs to send a projectile with precision.
LET THE SUNSHINE
Pikuniku: Puzzle, platform and smilesLet's be clear, the charm of the work shaped by Sectordub comes from the hilarious dialogues between protagonists who are both cute and annoying. The levels are not examples of originality in terms of Level Design, but the simplicity of the map and the mechanics mean that the progress is made by itself, without dead time, and in a certain good mood. If in fact the player must very classically pick up coins, jump from obstacle to obstacle and succeed in different quests, he must above all do so to buy beautiful glasses in order to enter a private club lost in the forest, or simply find a stone playing hide and seek among other pebbles.
Pikuniku is not difficult, even if some bosses would try to slow progress by sending possessed toast. The purely platform passages that require some skill are present, but death is softened by a reappearance a few meters from failure. The player should therefore never block in their main quest which takes just under five hours to complete. Fortunately, many side quests are offered in addition to multiple items to find to extend the duration of the trip. Lovers of local multiplayer experiences will be delighted to embark on the dozen levels of cooperation mode who have the good idea to include some competitive elements (such as races). Definitely, alone or in pairs, Pikuniku is designed to make people laugh.
The notes
+ Positive points
Very funny characters
A pretty good mix of platform and puzzle
Zero frustration
The levels of co-op mode
-Negative points
Very short (less than 5 hours of play)
Not really original out of its artistic direction
A sometimes capricious physical engine
Pikuniku begins as a hilarious joke and evolves into a wacky story game populated by wacky characters. Simple but pretty good on all the aspects it develops, the title edited by Devolver never takes itself seriously. Its basic platform aspect, its easy puzzles and its Metroidvania side for young shoots correspond to the simplicity of the geometric forms displayed by its graphics.
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