If there was one segment I could choose to represent Pid as an experience, Id say: About halfway through the game or so, you come across a cavernous maze filled with the somber dulcet echoes of jazz saxophone. At the end of the maze, you find a saxophonist, the cave dead silent as you speak to him. Just needed a quiet place to play, he says. The saxophone picks up in the distance, off-screen, as you depart. Thats what Pid is, a series of vibes.

Its like a dream diary turned into a platformer by one of those game jam kids that only write things down in game engines. The platforming is simple, maybe even sometimes rudimentary. Sometimes its clumsy. But its also always whimsical, evocative, oozing the atmosphere of a quaint and quiet night sky. There are some moments in this game that have left vivid imprints on my mind, that I recall often and which keep this small, seemingly unknown game floating in my constellation of influences.

Reviewed on May 16, 2024


2 Comments


20 days ago

I had played maybe thirty minutes of this when it originally released and bounced off. The near-total lack of retrospective coverage on this game kinda made me assume that it was a forgettable puzzle platformer from the era of a TON of forgettable puzzle platformers. Sounds like it might be worth revisiting. Thanks for the review!

20 days ago

@JoeShmoe
Its def a budget indie game from a time where most indies were making really simple, obvious kinds of gameplay, so its no Mario.

BUT
its got some really great "moments", a great sense of style, and while the gameplay is sometimes pretty stock, its certainly not unenjoyable by any means. Definitely didnt get a fair shake in the cultural zeitgeist.