Possibly my favourite mobile game of all time. Ojiro Fumoto has done it again.

Downwell was an amazing experience on PC, but this mobile centred game feels just perfect for the platform. You can experience gameplay in short bursts or long binges and it remains satisfying.

Top of it off with another emotionally resonant ending, and you have an excellent game that I think everyone should experience (and if you don't have Netflix, you probably have a friend with Netflix so just borrow their subscription and play this).

Me gusta imaginar que Ojiro Fumoto fue a Devolver Digital y Netflix con una propuesta de una sola diapositiva que decía «Downwell pero hacia arriba». La junta enloquece.
Es la otra cara de la moneda. Si Downwell es monocromático, Poinpy es colorido; si tu objetivo en Downwell es caer y eliminar enemigos, en Poinpy es recolectar fruta y preparar jugo.
Me sorprendieron gratamente los niveles de puzzles. El nuevo sistema de mejoras no depende tanto de la suerte y permite mayor flexibilidad para tu estilo de juego.
Probablemente lo mejor que puedes jugar en tu smartphone.

Poinpy, en su simpleza, revela los defectos de una de las peores desviaciones que ha tomado el diseño del roguelike: las mejoras persistentes o entre partidas.

Al empezar a jugar, tienes muy pocos saltos y ninguna mejora, por lo que superar la primera sección, ausente de plataformas, cuesta. La pantalla de tu móvil se hace abismo para la bolita verde. Cada salto, es decir, cada pulso de tu pulgar, importa. Luego vas pudiendo detenerte entre fruta y fruta, y la partida echa a andar. Pero conforme avanza, el juego te pide que recojas cada vez más fruta antes de pisar un soporte. Llegado el momento eres incapaz de saciar al monstruo que te sigue, e inevitablemente mueres.

Si echas más partidas, el juego recompensa tus muertes con puntos de experiencia para conseguir más saltos, y moned, digo, semillas con las que comprar mejoras. Esto te permite llegar más lejos en tus partidas, pero las vuelve banales de forma exponencial. Cuando tienes tantos saltos que ni los cuentas, estos dejan de tener valor, y apoyar el dedo vuelve a ser tan trivial como cuando haces scroll en cualquier red social. Con las mejoras, las amenazas ya no lo son tanto y los errores proliferan, ya que apenas tienen castigo.

Para resumir, los defectos que comentaba son principalmente dos: el primero es que esta filosofía de diseño parece querer generar una narrativa de superación en base a la constancia. Sigue intentándolo y llegarás más lejos, etc. Pero en realidad lo que uno percibe es la condescendencia del diseñador, que siente que tiene que darte recursos extrínsecos para que consigas superar los retos que propone. Y precisamente que esos recursos sean externos es el otro gran defecto.

Cuando en otros juegos vas encontrando las mejoras en el transcurso de la partida, a la manera de los arcades, ya estén puestas ahí fijas o aleatorizadas, recogerlas forma parte del viaje. Una buena partida se puede joder si tu nave no se equipa con ese arma de la fase 2, y otra normalilla se convierte en la ganadora gracias a la vida extra que descubriste de chiripa, o a la escopeta que nunca compras pero hoy sí. Sea de una u otra forma, hay cohesión, y cada pequeño evento resulta inseparable de esa run.

Pero cuando los aumentos se eligen antes de empezar, las decisiones más importantes de la partida las estás tomando fuera de ella, y jugar es el trámite que hay que pasar para ver si has elegido bien. El peso del juego se ha desplazado a eso que no es jugar. Por ello, uno ya no valora el gusto de ir brincando, ni el paseo ascendente, ni mecánicas más acertadas, como la recuperación de los rebotes.

Aparte de esto, se que hay mucha gente que ha celebrado Poinpy por recordar esa época en la que los juegos para móviles no estaban plagados de micropagos, anuncios, gachapones u otras perversiones, pero yo no tengo esa clase de nostalgia.

Possibly one of the best games ever made specifically for smartphones. Netflix distribution model aside, this is a game that successfully delivers on that promise from years ago of mobile gaming being a potentially big market for premium games, threatening the then thriving portable consoles, with its huge installbase and pick up and play accessibility. Unfortunately, as we all know, the mobile market has only gotten worse ever since, which is why it's a bit shocking to see such a creative and tightly packed game as POINPY be realeased as late as 2022.

The main reason i believe this is such a successful attempt at game design for mobile phones is that it perfectly matches familiar phone game pacing and framework (i.e.: endless runner, or in this case, climber) with mechanics and a level of polish rarely seen on such games, manifested in its brilliant implementation of roguelite elements, which brings real progression to a genre otherwise known for having no end goal, and its art direction and soundtrack. Honestly, the core gameplay mechanics (most probably inherited from Downwell, which i haven't played) with its inspired touch screen controls makes me believe this wouldn't feel out of place in the Nintendo DS library, specially given its Kirby-esque aesthetics.

There are a few rough edges here and there, which are mostly felt only on the higher levels. I'm aware this is supposed to be a compact game — the overtly minimalist presentation tells as much — and having fewer options is kinda the point, but limiting the player too much can make gameplay feel too restrained, which definitely happens as soon as Poinpy's upgrades are capped at 20, making any progress you made that doesn't directly put you into the end goal absolutely pointless. Having no way of improving the janky yet crucial ground pound mechanic to be more accurate, or to increase the number of hearts, or to get more upgrade slots, is a trap most roguelites would rather avoid, since making the player feel a little "OP" sometimes is part of the appeal of the genre.

But i can't really damn Moppin for that stuff when THAT ending cutscene shows up in my phone screen. It's not like this game has a gripping narrative or anything like that, but there's a bit of a Katamari-esque wackiness going on that gives it a lot of personality, most evident in the late game, which is something would NEVER expect from a phone game. This breed of surrealist aesthetics and the little additions such as the postgame challenges and the puzzle mode make the NDS title comparison a lot more apt. Very recommended if you miss this era of portable gaming and want something decent to play on your phone with no microtransactions or ads or endless grindy gameplay (still requires a Netflix subscription though, nothing's perfect).

the perfect game in my books and i'm not sure how to put it into words but it's a beautiful experience playing this. this game comes from a place of love and dedication, an eye for user experience and an understanding of what it should be delivering to the player, and what it expects from the player. i think the best way i can describe this is nothing is put to waste, the designs, the enemies, the movement, the interface, the animations, the space. it's like stumbling upon an oasis in today's barren gaming landscape filled with surface level shit that is only fun to play initially before you lose interest. it captured my interest, short and sweet. i don't even know where to start..
i think what this game does brilliantly is progression. from opening the game for the first time, to catching your final fruit, it feels like a complete journey that never skipped any steps getting there. i don't know if maybe I'M just the audience for this shit, but this game just scratches this itch of game design that i've always loved. one that does not hold your hand, but also points you towards something fun and leaves expectations at the door. hey you've got cool power ups here, and you've got some puzzles here, and they lead you here by means of exploration and intrigue from the player. i'm really not sure how well it communicates this to your average gamer but i feel like you really can't miss it and it's all found organically, without a trace of dialogue, brilliance!
you start off by being taught how to move, you fling yourself, and you can bounce off walls and you can hard drop for more precision. you can bounce off enemies bc of course you can, and you collect fruit. why am i collecting fruit? oh theres some monster that will literally kill us if we don't feed it juice, and it has to be the right combination (not really). if you touch the ground you lose all your fruit, and if the timer is out, you don't have the fruit and you touch the ground, you lose hp, until it reaches zero. now im learning the game. what else is there to this game besides that? combos bro. the whole idea of the floor is lava is such a fun concept that more games need to reward players for doing.
i think this game builds up on downwell extremely well. my main problems with downwell were that it was way too fast to feel and it felt more like reaction checks trying to play the way i wanted to play (never touching the ground). this game lets you slow the game down, take things at your own pace and think things through before committing. i've come to realise fast does not always equal better, it is especially the case for this game.
so past this first phase of progression, we then lean into how can i get better at the game. learn the ins and outs of the game, bouncing on stuff gives me extra bounces, bouncing on walls gives me extra height, etc. and mix this with getting now power up and even learning new mechanics from here, like the spin state picking up more around you, reviving if you create a fruit shake as you are dying, as mentioned before leaving nothing to waste. even in the puzzle mode on the right you learn important information about going on fire and destroying fruit you do not want, which i imagine could easily go over your head if you are not paying attention, but this way it teaches you with intentionality.
and then it tells you to reach level 20 and you put literally everything you've learned to the test. you are unable to cheese as it requires you to gather 5 star shakes, not accounting for quality, all while dodging everything. i got here at a pretty low level and realised i was definitely not prepared and grinded levels to get more jumps and better power ups, and finishing this game was such a journey, realising how far you've come and it all coming to an end, and not realising how much fun you were having. it's quite disheartening knowing that there is not much else to this game, but it was fun, brilliant and a fun case study to a brilliant user experience.
plus it has music from bo-en, love the guy!

The perfect simulator of what it’s like to have a pet: they are either asleep or awake, and if it’s the latter you must feed them at every moment and what they ask or prepare to feel their wrath. Not even the likes of Nintendogs dared to replicate the experience so closely.

Back during the first years of the 2010’s, I was really into mobile gaming, like, REALLY into it. Name any game you can think that was big on mobile and tablets during those years and I most likely played it, and hell, I played some stuff I’m not even sure what it was! Plants vs Zombies, Pou, Jetpack Joyride, Zombie Tsunami, Candy Crush, Subway Surfers, Clash of Clans, Carnivores Dinosaur Hunter HD; these are only a couple that quickly come to mind in a sea of games and memories, and believe me, there was a ton of crap in that accursed sea, but I did have my fun with a couple of them and there are even some I still consider to be really well made experiences for what they are. However, it’s a market that was destined to sour on me; to tell the story of how the mobile gaming scene evolved would take at least another 4 paragraphs, so to make it short and personal, my enjoyment of the more short and sporadic gameplay sessions diminished as most games gravitated towards the ‘’free-to-play’’ yet aggressively monetized sphere; I just do not enjoy experiences that require either small burst of monetary investment or that ask patience over small but daily sessions across months or even years, which, come to think of it, may explain also my immediate aversion to life-service games and gachas when those began to gain popularity and a spot on the scene over the recent years.

So yeah, safe from a few tries to Clash Royale back when it released and of course the massive explosion that was Pokémon Go, I never really dabbled into anything smartphone related since, and it probably it would have stayed like that if it weren’t because of my stubbornness; it has been a long ass time since 2016, even if my brain cannot process it yet, and with that passage of time things change, and even if the ‘’free-to-play’’ model is the one to go for many releases to this day, things have change over on the App Store: quite interesting and surprisingly functional ports, really interesting experiences designed for the touch-screen, even companies creating subscriptions that include many more in-depth experiences that don’t require micro-transactions. I’ve been well aware of those changes, and I’ve seen multiple games that actually interest me, but I was still… reluctant to return to that space, to say the list. But wouldn’t you know, one of the companies that does have a compendium of games on the Play Store is Netflix!: I have a Netflix subscription, I have a phone, and after looking at the surprisingly meaty and interesting selection of games, I made my decision…

‘’Fuck it we ball.’’

It’s still pretty surprising that I decided to start with Poinpy tho, it comes from Downwell’s developer, which I do not think is a bad game or anything, but it never clicked with me, I tried it like… three or four times doing multiple runs on each, but it never ended up grabbing me, and this one looked extremely similar to that game’s idea except… you go up instead, I guess. Plus, as I said, Netflix’s catalogue is surprisingly more interesting than I ever expected, so it’s not like I had a shortage of options or anything… I simply saw the game, saw it was a mbile exclusive which seemed like a good way to start my return, it looked pretty nice and so, I gave it a try.

And another one.

And then another one.

And after that yet another one.

And then I kept playing. And playing.

And then I did the puzzles.

And here I am now, 7 hours later. I beat it.

And I couldn’t be happier with my pick.


Poinpy is one of those experiences that is completely designed for mobile, not only because it controls wonderfully with the touch screen, but also because everything about works perfectly both as an experience to put hours on end or to pick up from time to time, and not only that, it’s not that it’s good, it’s good. Of course my goblin brain wouldn’t stop thinking about and so I played it pretty much non-stop, but I can easily see this as a game that many could enjoy by playing a round or two a day. It’s tailor-made for what it’s in, but so are practically all the major phone-releases, that’s not what makes Poinpy special, what makes it so it that it breaks from so many other conventions.

There’s a very clear objective: reach the top, traverse the levels, feed the beast, don’t perish while you do it. Your final goal is always in sight, but it’s not achievable at first; your progress is marked by how well you do it in each of the runs, hoy many exp you can get so you can gain levels and upgrades, maybe collecting golden seeds and getting perks that help you greatly in future runs. Your evolution is steady and immediate, you must earn it, but its always visible, and that’s what kept me coming back, the idea of getting better at the stuff I was doing, both intrinsically and extrinsically, getting even more upgrades and crushing it even more at the next feeding session… well, that and the fact the gameplay fucking rules.

Poinpy doesn’t play with momentary gratification, this isn’t a game about bursts of moments that make you go ‘’Oh I’m doing great!’’, instead, All of it is cathartic; your ascensions are a constant fight for not touching the floor before you have to, you have to think every move quickly, trying to bounce at every wall, at every enemy, every vessel possible just to scratch that extra jump, to get an ever greater combo or to meat the baseline requirement for the juice, it feels incredible, exciting, every fail makes your heart drop and every success is a another reason to not let your guard down and keep going, especially when they begin introducing the fruits that you cannot pick up and break your combo if you do. The bounce, the new mechanics introduced at every new level, like the bubbles for the ice peaks or the cannons for the steam-punk temple; hell, even the sound is amazing, Poinpy is satisfaction at its purest level not because the game is constantly telling you to feel good or because of high-scores, but because you feel it when you are doing good, and it’s just so damn fun, even the optional puzzles that reward you with more golden seeds are a blast to crack open and resolve.

It’s also a super lovely looking game, Poinpy and everything in its world is just so friend shaped, especially the terrible beast, and the colorful scenery and the super fitting music create what I can only describe as eye candy, but a healthy candy, one low on sugar but that still feels super sweet.

I’ts all not perfect in paradise; there’s a level of RNG that I don’t think I enjoy, and if you get really unlucky with fruit or enemy placement you could see your run die in a moments notice; I myself managed to recover from many of these, but they don’t feel designed to generate difficulty, it just feels like I got a bad seed and I got punished for it, which is a shame when everything else is so calculated and works so well.

Poinpy is incredible, it’s fun, it’s colorful, it has ending that’s as mind-melting as it is adorable and sweet, and it has quite the stuff to do, so much so I’ll probably be coming back in the future… tho probably I’ll return just to have fun too.

I’m shocked, I’m happy and overjoyed, this is easily the most fun I’ve had with a mobile game in…. forever, honestly. There’s much phone gaming to be done, I have some ports I really want to check out, but for now, I couldn’t have asked for a better reintroduction.

I love these goobers and the funny thinking emoji pose they make when sitting or dying, now that’s comedy!

EDIT: I originally didn't talk about the Endless Mode in depth since I didn't try it and didn't expect it to be worth mentioning, but after caving in and giving it a shot I ADORE how it's designed, putting you back at the point you started jump-count wise and the only way to get back those orb jumps is to sacrifice valued spaces for perks; an incredibly balanced mode, super smartly designed and an amazing reward for beating the game and an excuse to get even more medals. This game is a gift that wants to keep giving, and I love it.

This is the only phone game I’ve touched that made me go back to do every achievement, feeling ever more things clicking while shooting for the 4-jump-orb only clear, and enjoying myself enough to live through a 9 hour flight with zero wifi. It really does strike the wonderful tonality of an arcade game where you keep finding a thing to master with each stage and learning fruit arc priorities and what combination of the like 3 perks you can have for the 4-clear. Elated when finally got that last medal fucker in the last half hour of the flight home.
It’s just a really good game!! Need more phone games like this :(