Pocket Trap are a studio who have been quietly building their brand over the years. Whether it be in the TV world with Ninjin or Dodgeball Academia they know how to capture the attention of an audience. Their latest foray into gaming sees them take on the top-down platformer genre with Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, a game aiming to capture a retro vibe of popping a cartridge into your console of choice and playing.
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Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo Review for Playstation 5
Title: Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo
Developer: Pocket Trap
Publisher: PM Studios
Players: 1
Genre: Retro, Adventure, Platforming, Action
Platforms: PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch
Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty enjoyable and slightly addictive. You go from ‘room’ to room within the map and find a new challenge each time as you explore levels. At times it asked me to solve a puzzle, other times it was to beat enemies, and sometimes there were platforming challenges awaiting me.
As I played the game and explored the map I was granted more moved that opened up the game world and allowed me to get past each challenge with more ease. I like a game like this which slowly unleashes your arsenal and makes you learn bit-by-bit instead of throwing everything at me at once.
I will say sometimes the combat was rather annoying more than fun, the yo-yo handles some enemies pretty well but others have a range of movement that is a nightmare to handle. This is especially notable during the monster swarm sections where I was being surrounded by different enemies with different attack patterns and trying to avoid them all became rather impossible.
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The platforming and puzzles hold up, though. The developers were definitely clever and I liked when the game rewarded me for thinking on the go as well. The best combat sections were definitely the ones that leaned into this too, allowing me to be clever to beat enemies instead of hoping against hope I’d get a health drop. I had some slight issues with the platforming feeling a bit slippy especially when I had to use the Walk The Dog move to traverse liquids but the game is fairly generous so it didn’t ruin the experience too much.
Another fun aspect of the gameplay was the upgrade system and badges. They added something unique to what was already an interesting game. It takes things in a different direction by having you earn the coins for upgrades while they’re equipped, they just come at the cost of another stat. So as an example, an upgrade to earn 3 more badge points will require me to collect 1,000 coins. I instantly get those 3 badge points but until I earned the 1,000 coins, I lost 1 attack point and 2 health points.
Presentation
Where this game really stands out is the vibe it caputres from start to finish. The opening cinematic of the cartidge sliding into a console transported me back to an older time. Everything about Pipistrello aims to convey a feeling of playing a grainy, 64-bit game right down to the sounds.
The graphics are colourful and high-def while retaining an old-school feel. They offset some of the retro-ness by embracing a wider colour palette that stops the game from feeling too samey.
The sounds of the game are just brilliant. Doing a special move will activate a sound, hitting your yo-yo makes a sound, even dying makes a sound, and all of it just IS retro, it’s exactly the kind of atmopshere the developers set out to create .
Story
The storyline for this title provides all I needed to get started. It’s a pretty simple case of being given four targets to get revenge on and steadily overcoming the setbacks to get to each one. The story isn’t TOO serious since everyone involved is kind of a villain but it did enough to keep me on track.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo Review – Last Word on Gaming Viewpoint
Pocket Trap have created an homage to the top-down retro game by bringing it to the modern era with all of the old-school charm and the new-school technical proficiency. The gameplay is fun, kind of addicting, but will definitely keep you coming back for more. The visuals and sound design are sure to impress anyone looking for something outside of the norm.
