Are you sick or bedridden? Do you own a Nintendo switch? Do you like platformers? I mean of course you like platformers only weirdos who don’t want Christmas cookies this year don’t like platformers. >.>
Today I have found myself perfectly in the center of this three-part Venn diagram. Today I played Pankapu.
Pankapu is an action platformer, you will be doing a lot of jumping and a good amount of the old hack and slash. Like many 2d platformers, pankapu is a collectathon if you want 100% completion you will have to explore every nook and cranny of the levels for all the little mud spirits and upgrades. Don’t worry, upgrades required for progression are all easily found and impossible to miss.
But what is it about?
The game starts as a story told to a young child. Pankapu is a dream keeper, a warrior created to protect Omnia the world of dreams. A vile corruption is seeping into the world and Pankapu is created and sent to protect one of the spirits that is under attack.
The game contains both the story of Pankapu that you play and the story of the child being told of Pankapu which must be unlocked. There are themes of overcoming fear and trauma running through both levels of the story.
What stood out
The platforming controls are tight, they behave exactly how you want and ensure that any deaths are your fault. As it should be. They slip in a little classic homage to gaming through Pankapu’s three aegides (body) they take the form of fighter, archer, and mage respectively. Every save point is a dreamcatcher and that is just too adorable for words.
Overall Pankapu is fun to play and brightly coloured. It’s a nice game that provides a challenge without any heavy-handed punishment. I’m looking at you Mario and your addiction to lives, arcades are dead, stop it, get some help. I digress, on a sick day or otherwise Pankapu is just the right mix of challenge and forgiveness, jump and slash, and explore and collect to brighten your day.