‘Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo’ Review: A Weird, Wonderful Yoyovania

Yoyos are well-known for going up and down, however Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo solely goes in a single route: up. From the second the younger prodigal bat Pippit first arrives at his aunt’s spooky manor, each colourful, jam-packed display screen provides to the character of the recreation’s corporate-run metropolis. Each room additionally presents an fascinating puzzle or battle, generally each, which is spectacular on condition that there are tons of of rooms. And nearly each component of Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo serves to critique capitalism.

Pippit is coasting by means of a lifetime of idle yoyo tournaments at the household enterprise’s expense. He doesn’t have the makings of a standard online game hero, although his aunt—cursed to reside inside his yoyo—is unambiguously painted as a villain all through the recreation. She’s nothing if not a fount of caustic observations about her wastrel nephew, and her monopoly over the metropolis’s energy has made her fabulously rich and more and more controlling.

Between Pippit’s naïve notions (he’s a little bit of yoyo himself) and his aunt’s profiteering perspective on the exploitative actions of the 4 rival companies that cursed her, the builders at Pocket Entice are capable of present each the risks of doing nothing in the face of company greed and the perils of partaking in it. (Certainly one of the recreation’s recurring gags is that Pippit’s aunt isn’t offended at what the different companies are doing a lot as she’s upset that she didn’t consider it first.) The richness of that discourse, and the number of the corruption depicted throughout every of the 4 distinct districts, simply carries the recreation throughout its 16 hours.

Whereas Pippit and his aunt are the most outspoken characters in the recreation, the metropolis itself has loads to say, and every of the 5 fundamental puzzle dungeons richly showcase the nightmares of company extra. Behold the Plaza Roquefort, a maze-like shopping center that works to wring each cent from its guests, and then stare upon its underbelly, an industrial mess of hazardous frying oil, the addictive ingredient in the meals courtroom’s burgers. Every zone gives an identical cautionary story of contrasts, from a endless pageant with a seemingly endless line of individuals to navigate by means of, to a sports activities area that hides a manipulative sports-betting operation.

Pippit’s yoyo is the core of the gameplay right here, and it delivers trick after tightly strung trick. As gamers progress, they’ll be taught new strikes that basically change how Pippit can transfer by means of rooms and how he can struggle his foes, whether or not that’s pulling off a Stroll-the-Canine maneuver, such that the yoyo pulls Pippit over liquid surfaces, or throwing out an Round the World assault to maintain hordes of foes at bay. Every room’s structure comes into play as properly, as your yoyo rebounds at 90-degree angles at any time when it hits a diagonal floor. (That is key for each fixing momentum-based puzzles and clearing out rooms with out-of-reach foes.)

Fight all through the recreation is stable, for certain, but it surely’s a bit restricted in you could solely equip two several types of particular strikes directly. It by no means ceases to be thematically cool to unleash a sequence of yoyo strikes or a Cat’s Cradle that tangles foe after foe, however most battles hinge extra on you reacting to enemy patterns than unleashing something greater than your fundamental ranged assault. (It doesn’t assist that you need to return to base to manually swap out abilities.)

Exploration is the place Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo really excels. That is, in spite of everything, a “yoyovania”—the recreation’s advertising and marketing time period for itself—the place you utilize an easy-to-read map to revisit earlier areas with newer abilities, determining how you can mix strikes like a Wall Run with an off-string grapple to cross seemingly not possible chasms. Furthermore, the recreation’s devious use of capitalism in its talent tree strongly encourages you to tackle side-hustles. For one, to realize any new means, gamers should first tackle its debt, and they’re saddled with a destructive impact till they’re capable of pay it off, their earnings from battle or treasure garnished (like wages) by half.

Trying to find hidden, sellable diamonds or taking up further challenges helps to clear your debt sooner—even when the entice right here is that no sooner do you repay one mortgage than you end up needing to take out one other, this one with even larger beneficial properties but in addition extra harmful penalties. Alongside the means, you’ll additionally decide up badges that assist to mitigate a few of the destructive results, reminiscent of diminished HP or assault energy. Discovering the proper combos not solely retains the recreation at a gradual problem but in addition retains gamers from getting too complacent with anyone construct.

Of us, Gordon Gekko had it incorrect. It’s not greed that’s good, however the yoyo, which “clarifies, cuts by means of, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.” And if these phrases sound as hyperbolic as they do in Wall Road, simply wait till you get your fingers on Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo and see how gloriously proper this bizarre, great yoyo-centric journey is.

This recreation was reviewed with a code supplied by Renaissance PR.