#sectordub

[geekcavepodcast]

Pikuniku 2 Trailer

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

Pikuniku 2 launches in 2027 for Nintendo Switch 2 and PC via Steam.

[tinysamm]

The simplicity of Pikuniku in terms of character interactions would be severely lacking, if it were not for the enormous amount of unique interactions that the larger world provided. While the player as Piku can only kick, roll, or swing through different areas, the actual characters and objects are so varied that almost everything has its own unique reaction when the player finally finds what makes them do something different (ranging wildly between kicking a spider to make a bridge out of its web to swinging up into the clouds to wake up some giant bird eggs).

[npfehr]

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!

It’s worth checking out!

[crazygamecommunity]

Pikuniku 2 annunciato per Switch 2 e PC

Devolver Digital e gli sviluppatori Sectordub, Rémi Forcadell e Calum Bowen hanno annunciato Pikuniku 2, un gioco puzzle d'avventura, che sarà disponibile su Switch 2 e PC (Steam) nel 2027.

[gamesinorbit]

Pikuniku - interactive madness

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…

View On WordPress

[baphomet-media]

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.

Story

The story of Pikuniku centers around the titular Piku, a small red blob with legs, who awakens in a cave to find that the nearby village thinks they are a fearsome beast, all the while the tycoon Mr. Sunshine claims to be practically giving away free money in exchange for, oh, just a few small bits and bobs here and there. Anyone who is even tangentially familiar with capitalism knows that there’s something fishy going on here, and Piku must travel across the island, solving the problems of the various villagers in order to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

The story itself is pretty bare-bones, but it accomplishes what it needs to. Unfortunately, I felt like Mr. Sunshine himself was woefully underdeveloped, and I felt like the game could have really played him up more. As it is, while the writing will give you the occasional chuckle with some of the NPCs’ goofy antics, there isn’t all that much to it. It isn’t offensive at all, but definitely leaves you wanting just a bit more.

Gameplay

Pikuniku is at heart a 2D adventure platformer where you navigate the various areas, solve a few light puzzles and platforming challenges, and complete small quests for NPCs. Generally, the game is pretty bare-bones, though I found that the jiggly physics system provided plenty of entertainment. Piku themself has an interesting control scheme. You move around as you might expect with the analog stick or D-Pad, jump with A, kick with X, and hold B to retract your legs and roll around as a lump. While on the surface this mostly acts as a crouch mechanic, it actually makes you move faster, and is pretty hilarious to behold. Most of the complexity of the game’s mechanics comes from interacting with a myriad of physics objects in the world and the ensuing chaos. For example, one minigame involves playing 1-on-1 basketball… the twist being you can only bump into or kick the ball. It’s all pretty simple stuff, but it’s charming enough to keep you entertained.

The game has no combat, aside from a few indirect boss battles throughout. These battles are a bit basic, and can be a tad repetitive later on, but not bad enough to be offensive.

The game does have a few minigames throughout, including a small rhythm minigame. It was fun, but unfortunately the game does not allow you to replay this one specific minigame once you beat it, which is frustrating since the game has an achievement related to getting a perfect score in this minigame.

A lot of the meat of the game’s content comes from exploring the world, solving puzzles, finding hidden areas and secrets, and completing quests for NPCs. It honestly doesn’t take too long to finish the game with all quests finished, but there are some extra secrets and achievements for those who want to go back and find everything.

Presentation

The game has a goofy charm that pervades its art design, with the blobby shapes of various characters throughout. I would comment on the sound design, but I’ve completely forgotten what the game sounded like, if that tells you anything. Serviceable but forgettable.

Conclusion

Overall, Pikuniku is a cute game that you can likely beat in a single sitting. It’s great if you want a silly, lighthearted romp, and have an afternoon to spend but don’t want to dive into a much longer or heavier game. I would highly recommend it on Game Pass, though I can’t really justify buying it on its own due to short runtime and pretty bare-bones content.

Score: 7 / 10

[add-to-inventory]

Gav played: Pikuniku

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.

Try it if you like: All-ages games, stick your leggy out real far, robots’ rights, workers’ rights, environmental conservation, subtly teaching children about economic inflation, bouncing, multiplayer modes.

[miloscat]

[Review] Pikuniku (co-op) (NS)

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.

The eye is initially drawn by Pikuniku’s striking, simplistic graphical style. Lots of flat colours, simple shapes, and minimalist character design. This makes the puzzle-focused local co-op mode easy to grasp, as your characters co-operate to progress through a series of stages.

Since your character is such a basic shape, about all you can do is kick with their spindly little legs, which helps you move things about and also troll your partner (or let them jump higher). You can also squish down and roll, or grab onto grapple points, and in a few levels you drive a tiny car (and hitting the horn in succession plays the hook from A-HA’s Take On Me!). It’s totally adorable!

Over nine short levels you’ll have a gay old time with a co-op buddy—in the Flintstones sense, or possibly other senses, who knows?—pushing around balls, hitting switches, and traversing obstacles. Without even getting into the solo campaign with its silly characters, it’s worth it just for these little challenges.