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Pikuniku all trophies8/22/2023 ![]() ![]() You’ll be doing rhythm game dance battles, manoeuvring challenging platforming arenas, and even participating in a ball-kicking sport called Baskick. Whenever I was even vaguely feeling fatigue or boredom setting in, I was already getting involved with a brand new type of challenge or puzzle, and the game kept spicing things up like that consistently until the credits rolled. If you want to spice things up even further, there’s a series of co-op challenges you can tackle with a pal for even further entertainment. They’re more proper puzzles compared to what you’d encounter in the main story, but they’re still simple enough that anyone can hop in and make their way through it with you in no time. I’d be a fool not to mention the sound design of Pikuniku, because it’s an absolute treat and a vital part of the experience. We’re smiling at just the thought of it.Every song in the game has a quirky and addictive charm to it that I could only compare to one other game, and it’s the previous game this composer worked on! Snipperclips had a wonderfully zany soundtrack made by the talented Calum Bowen, and that same charm is delivered in spades with the delightful music for Pikuniku. And dammit, in the dark of winter that’s a message that JDR can get behind. ![]() Pikuniku invites you to spend a few hours in its world, to help others, not because there’s a pot of gold at the end but because it’s a nice thing to do. Like another recent lol-filled game, it pushes a certain brand of millennial comedy but with a brilliant eye for timing and it’s sure to tickle even the most meme-averse player. It helps that Pikuniku is confident in its humour and characters, unafraid to keep the jokes coming thick and fast and it certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome with its story or its compact playtime (around 4-5 hours). But it's told with an effortless shrug and then it's back to kicking and somersaulting through the world with joyful abandon. ![]() It holds at its core a message of hope, that if we can look past the surface and work together we can make a better world. Pikuniku colourful visuals and jumble of oddball characters belie its more sober message: there’s a simple but effective story of environmental damage in the wake of capitalist greed (even a sly comment on workers’ rights). Arrows, switches and spikes are about as complicated as it gets. And that’s before you’ve tackled your first mini-boss. There’s plenty to do in the first village alone: crops to save, a rock playing hide-and-seek and a game of ‘backkick’ in need of winning (two hoops and a melon - you can work out the rest). Once you convince the villagers you’re actually a helpful beastie you’re given licence to roam around the world and discover just what exactly is going on with the too-good-to-be-true Sunshine Inc, led by the smiley pink Mr Sunshine and his band of “helpful” robots which are intent on stealing the villagers’ corn in exchange for a few coins. Legend tells of a beast that spreads destruction wherever it goes, slumbering in a cave in the depths of the mountain, rather similar to the one you just woke up from in fact. After being awoken by a friendly ghost - “it’s dangerous to go alone,” they say, “take this: my full moral support” (just one of the humorous nods to games past) - you are thrown out into the world and quickly captured by the local villagers. Exploring the village is its own reward with plenty of secrets to be found.īut it would be nothing if you didn’t have somewhere to go. ![]()
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