Pikuniku is a silly and short platformer in which you play as the red circle Piku and generally just enjoy walking around, bouncing and kicking people.

Pikuniku presents a very strong and unique sense of aloofness, pairing together its floaty physics and visual style to great effects. The music also plays a large role in this game's mood, probably the one element that imprinted on me the most while playing. Its the only soundtrack ive ever heard that lives up to/matches the same energy as quirky early Nintendo music, reminding me of Animal Crossing or Super Paper Mario specifically

This game has a lot of honest world building and physical comedy set up so it is a huge letdown that the writers of this game were not confident enough with Pikuniku's originality and instead had to resort to using meme dialouge. This is the original sin of indie games for me, can turn a perfectly crafted experience into something completely unbearable. You know... the type of dialouge where they

type like this

no punctuation or anything just

typing like theyre texting

3 words per sentence

And they feel the need to fall back on (already outdated) meme formats that does nothing but put an expiration date on your otherwise fun game. "Its dangerous to go alone, take this", "el bunko", and just generally the style of comedy that one may find on ifunny. Its a real shame because like I said Pikuniku feels original enough on its own that I dont think they had to fall back on this to make the game charming. I think the devs may have just thought it was funny on their own which is quite sad. They are also French which confused me since Pikuniku seems to have japanese text underneath it on all promotional images of the game, so I assumed it was japanese. But I suppose it isnt...

Otherwise, if you want a short and silly game I would suggest Pikuniku on sale, but don't expect something on the same level as something like Katamari.

Essa eh uma historia de um herói predestinado que foi convocado por um ser cósmico para lidar com um vilão que perdeu toda sua civilização e por conta disso
o Vilão tem essa obsessão na criação de um lugar perfeito, e para isso, ele precisa eliminar a escoria e o povo imperfeito desse mundo (na visão dele) ele extrai recursos do povo, ele engana o povo, ele vigia cada movimentação do povo com o falso pretexto de individualidade e de riqueza, para no fim destruir o povo com seus próprios recursos

You play as the feared cave beast! Although, you're not really a beast as the townsfolk quickly come to realize. In fact, they need your help to get rid of the giant robots destroying their home! The Sunshine Inc. company has been showing the citizens with money in exchange for "junk" but what they've really been taking are their important resources. It's up to you to jump, roll, and kick your way to the headquarters and stop them for good!

Visuals

Pikuniku is so colorful and bright! The characters and backgrounds look like some just created random shapes in Paint and flood filled them, but crisp and clean. It actually looks really nice. It's a simple artstyle, but it suits this relatively simply game.

Sound Effects + Music

I adored the music in Pikuniku. It's so happy and upbeat and quirky. It just made me happy to hear while I was playing, and one of the tracks was stuck in my head for awhile.

The sound effects are fun as well. And there is some minimal voice acting, mostly just random noises rather than true language. It's fitting for these little blob creatures though.

Gameplay + Controls

Pikuniku is a puzzle platformer, and a really fun one at that. It's pretty simple and straight forward. You move around, jump across gaps, kick rocks (or people), and generally figure out your way around the handful of locations. None of the puzzles are too complicated, and I only got stumped once, because I was thinking too logically. A little out of the box thinking is required at times, but most puzzles don't require much thinking at all.

I did face one very annoying glitch where I had to close the game and restart that area twice. Ernie just disappeared behind the blocks you were suppose to use to move him toward the exit. There was no way to force him back out other than to restart. It was frustrating, but third time's the charm.

Replayability

Pikuniku is extremely short and probably a fun game to speedrun. I'm not a speedrunner though, so I doubt I'd play it again. I would happily continue to find more secrets and earn trophies.

Overall

Pikuniku was so much fun! I felt like I was just getting into it when I was suddenly at the final boss battle. I'd say it was too short, but I think it was the right length to do what it set out to do.

Short and sweet little platformer that's charming and pretty fun. It feels like a lot of other short indie games I've played like Donut County and A Short Hike where it focuses on simple yet fun gameplay mechanics while telling a pretty barebones story with charming dialogue and characters, but really just fails to stick with me too much. It's definitely a fun game worth the 3 hour run time and I respect the hell out of it for being just about the most pure form a video game with solid aspects all around but just isn't going to be something I'm going to think about or go back to in the future.

I’m back!!!

It’s only been 800 years since I last finished a game. But anyways, this was really cute and fun. So short though! Me and my girlfriend had a good time playing it, and it felt like such a wholesome, light experience.

Some really cool level design, pretty much impossible to get really stuck anywhere. So many little secret things to find and mess around with, and even some really cool little racing levels that were so random and fun.

I’d be okay with playing a lot more games as cute and harmless as this one.

Pikuniku soma elementos que muito me agradam: humor, direção de arte carismática e comentário social por baixo dos panos.

A temática anticapitalista com a breve nuance do fantasma do socialismo é uma camada que fica pouco sutil no texto e no desenvolvimento dos personagens de Pikuniku.

O vilão é o capitalista malvadão que usa o dinheiro para comprar recursos (produzido pelos trabalhadores) que ele usa para construir robôs (mão de obra barata) que lhe servem como empregados diretos em seus planos maquiavélicos de destruição do mundo o substituindo por novos espécimes e robôs, sob sua gerência e controle.

É uma ambição de brincar de deus que mistura com o humor simples e pastelão do jogo, marcado pelas piadas e pelo movimento dos personagens, desengonçado e cômico.

O próprio personagem do jogador tem um caminhado engraçado e ações que utilizam a física dos objetos de cena para criar plataformas e interagir com quebra-cabeças, algo que costuma divertir por si só pela forma inesperada que se comportam ou mesmo pela dificuldade de dominá-la.

Seja pela comédia emergente, ou por seus diálogos divertidos, a leveza é a palavra do dia, e mantém o comentário social satírico longe de um didatismo que possa torná-lo doutrinário. Pra todos os efeitos, sua crítica social é anti-capitalista, mas não necessariamente socialista, o que deixa tudo mais a cargo de nuances e interpretativas.

A direção por sua vez, entrega cores vibrantes e contrastantes em um estilo de colorização mais chapado (flat) e blocado (color blocking) criando uma atmosfera lúdica e infantiloide. Isso o torna um jogo acessível e palatável pra todas as idades, servindo uma personalidade vivaz e alegre, casando bem com o humor e a trilha sonora igualmente pitoresca e simplória.

O tempo necessário pra terminar também é um gostinho extra pra uma rápida sessão. Por suas mecânicas simples, ele não chega a se tornar cansativo ou necessitar de mais complexidade pra se manter entretendo justamente pela sua curta duração. Eu amo isso? Demais.

Cute little indie game that's more of a walking simulator than a platformer. Sorry, it's a "cinematic platformer".

Don't take me wrong though. I had a blast, more than with any other cinematic platformer I've played before. Also, it has a little more action than many of said genre. Still, for me it fits that genre's common description as the platforming feels clumsy and there is almost no difficulty to it.

The dialogues I thought were really funny as well as the story overall. Nothing outstanding, just a very good time.

I was ready to rate it 3 out of 5, then I played the co-op levels. They were the best designed part of the game, leaning more to the puzzle platforming bits of the game. They were also very few and completely separated of the main game.

Finally, I had an issue post-game. Went back to my save file to try and complete some objectives. However, after catching a bird for one of those side quests, my game got stuck. No matter if I closed, reinstalled or even played through the cloud. Nothing worked. When I load my save, I'm stuck over the house in the spot I caught the bird on and I can't move. A real shame.

Played through Xbox Game Pass for 8 hours exactly, main story + co-op. Don't know why it took me so darn long.

A silly and colorful platformer. The story is about a character named Piku who is trying to stop a corporate magnate from taking over the world and enslaving it's people to be his personal servants.

Lots of silly writing and at times some challenging platforming. There are collectables and a good array of achievements/trophies to unlock as well.

Co-Op is also a lot of fun and should be enjoyed with a friend or family member.

In terms of what it goes to accomplish: this game is flawless. The pace is consistent for a good 3 hours of platforming, exploring, puzzles, and minigames, all set in just the cutest world I've had the pleasure of adventuring through. Let me highlight a couple of things I loved:

- Throughout the game, you collect trophies either by finding them or by completing a sidequest. They're actually full 3D models ala Smash Bros, and you can go into the menu to get a full look at them! Really adorable
- All the minigames are perfect at breaking up the pace of the main adventure. They're creative little distractions that aren't just fun to play, but fun to stumble across
- Leg physics felt fun to use. Kicking, jumping, rolling, it has a certain rhythm to it that just feels good
- The style of humor in this game wasn't really for me, but it still made me smile at certain points. Everybody is just so relaxed and easygoing

It's a perfect casual experience that you can easily beat in one play session. If what I described sounds like fun, you won't be disappointed