Pikuniku is a 2019 French-British indie exploration puzzle game. In this colorful 2d adventure you spend your time rolling around, having silly encounters and fighting a crazy exploitative businessman. The game is relatively simple and quick to finish, taking roughly three hours to play through the main objectives.
The game starts with a greeting from Mr. Sunshine, a pink character wearing a top hat, in what seems to be an announcement for his company. He enthusiastically tells you that he will be extracting “junk” from your town in exchange for “free money” and encourages you to let his flying robots work in peace.
After the announcement, you awaken from a slumber in a cave. As you make your way out of the cave, you see a sign at the entrance warning of a “beast” (you). Being a little red sphere with sticks for legs you don’t feel so scary, but the villagers disagree. After accidentally destroying their bridge, you’re captured and put in a cage, but after proving yourself harmless you’re let go.
After figuring out how to fix the broken bridge, you’re free to explore. The main plot of the game revolves around taking down Mr. Sunshine. It turns out that when he said “junk”, he actually meant valuable resources like corn grown by the villagers and wood. His “free money” also proves to be pretty much worthless. The game is described on the official website as a “delightful dystopian adventure”. The satire in the game is light hearted, and the bigger themes encourage teamwork and community. And a bit of guerilla resistance.
The main charm of this game is its sense of humor and cute art style. The characters in the game are very sympathetic in their problems and quirks, and talking with them is the highlight of the gameplay. The game encourages to look around and try different things to see what will happen.
I played the game on Windows, but I felt that it could work better on a console, as the controls felt a little hard to maneuver at times, though this was easy to adjust to. The puzzles and platforming are very simple and straightforward mechanics-wise, but your objectives and the characters’ movements are by themselves so funny that the simplicity works well, Complex platforming in a game like this wouldn’t work as well with the themes and overall feel. The simplicity also adds to the game being suitable for players of all ages.
Overall Pikuniku is a wonderful and cute little game with a wholesome story. The soundtrack and sound design of the game really add to the whimsical nature of the art direction, and though the game is short it’s thoroughly enjoyable.
Game Details:
Developer: Sectordub
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Google Stadia
Genres: Puzzle, Adventure, Indie
Release dates: Linux, macOS, Windows, Switch – January 24 2019
Xbox One – March 12 2020
Stadia – February 9 2021
Rating: PEGI 3
Photos: Promo pictures from the game Pikuniku (Sectordub 2019) https://store.steampowered.com/app/572890/Pikuniku/
A media student passionate about gritty story-based video games, pop culture from the 2000's and the wider cultural representations in games. Loves discussions about art direction, music and different interpretations. Enthusiastic about scheming-based board games.
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