Going into A Short Hike, I expected just a cute and quick visual novel. But no, it is so much more than that. Game developers take note, because this is just about the most perfect small videogame you can create. It has something for everyone: cute characters and character development, amazing art, exploration, challenges, rewards, emotion, finetuned controls, gorgeous OST that develops during your hike and a beautiful and touching ending. I am so incredibly glad to have played this! It deserves all the praise it has gotten over the years.

Started this game on a whim and streamed it for my goons, it ended up being such a densely packed gauntlet of fun that it kind of left me speechless.

There is a single action mechanic in the game: flip, and the game does an extraordinary amount with just that through the level design. It's both intelligent and elegant and I managed to finish the game in under 2 hours and 30 minutes all on stream in a single sitting.

Pretty challenging game with an incredible OST and funny enemy design. I thought I'd just hop on, finish it, and hop off, but such a small game leaving this notable of an impression compelled me to go back and collect the 6 remaining trinkets I needed for all the collectables.

Great game, this shit is peak, it mogs Hollow Knight.

VVVVVV has faded into the background somewhat despite its positive critical reception upon launch, and that's a shame: I think more developers should take notes, as it succeeds at appealing to both casual and competitive audiences. From a casual viewpoint, VVVVVV takes a classic deconstructed concept ("what if we removed jumping in 2D platforming?") and expands upon this in meaningful ways with little downtime. I've often complained about the lack of tech-skill in 2D platformers, but VVVVVV remains a key exception because it's simple to pick up (just gravity flip and walking as controls) yet difficult to master due to its weightiness. Additionally, it never feels stale with its utilization of gravity flipping by innovating upon this with classic obstacle escalation, introducing flippers, screen wrapping, teleporters, and auto-scrolling in respective levels as just a few married mechanics. On the other hand, from a competitive viewpoint, VVVVVV presents itself as an almost perfect beginner's speedrunning game thanks to the general lack of RNG; all rooms begin from the same state once entered, following the same pattern every time. Upon exiting, the rooms will always reset to that exact same state playing the same pattern, meaning that timing cycles don't have to be accounted for on a broader scale and players can just focus on correctly routing the first time around. Due to the simplified routing and committal movement (since you can't flip mid-air and have very restrained control over aerial drift), players must both react quickly enough to meet single room cycles and carefully plan out input timings. It certainly helps that a solid speedrun takes less than an hour and individual sectors can be practiced as "challenges" added in a recent update.

Notice how I said "general lack of RNG" however, because this is where VVVVVV throws a wrench into the works. One of the game's twists is that upon rescuing three crewmates (i.e. clearing 3 of the 4 main sectors), the player is thrown into a 2nd intermission dubbed "The Gravitron," an arcade-like section that bounces the player between two flippers as they must dodge incoming projectiles without any vertical control. This particular intermission is the only case of RNG (in the form of randomized projectile waves) throughout the game, and unfortunately sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise completely consistent speedrunning experience. As an endless arcade sidemode that can be unlocked via collecting every trinket, I think it fulfills this role as a reward well, but when considering it from a deathless run perspective, it is an absolute killer in the middle of the run that cannot be easily planned for. Outside of this complaint though, I find very few things that I can fault VVVVVV for. The game's simple visuals are bright and catchy, it's got a great sense of humor with its room names and stylized pixel hazards, and the soundtrack goes harder than it has any right to: Pressure Cooker and Potential for Anything never fail to blow me away with their energetic melodies. This is an easy recommendation for anyone looking to get into speedrunning platformers despite the need to heavily practice for the Gravitron, and it's an even easier recommendation for general players looking to understand how indies can thoroughly yet succinctly explore creative yet familiar concepts in a cohesive package.

If there's one thing I love about Wario Land 4, it's the meticulous level design. And the genius use of mechanics. And the incredible variety. And the thematically perfect subversion of traditional platformers. And-

Anyway, back to level design. It's a game where pretty much every little detail of the level is perfectly considered, and I think the game being slower paced than many other 2D platformers helps the level design feel truly compact. The slow pace was almost certainly due to the small screen size, but it also meant the designers had to engage the player in more thoughtful ways, where players had to consider their surroundings in ways that you're not really going to do in a game series like Sonic the Hedgehog.

What does this have to do with Pizza Tower? Well, after playing the demo, it felt kinda like a mix between Wario Land and Sonic the Hedgehog, which, as I have established, are on pretty much opposite sides of how you can design platformers. As fun as the demo was, I wasn't sure if the game could actually blend these two polar opposites together in a cohesive way. After playing the game though, I think it did a surprisingly fantastic job at it.

The way the game handles difficulty is one of its best aspects, and a great way that it blends these two series together into something completely new. Just like in Wario Land, Peppino can't die in most cases, and hits are penalized by losing points and, often, a waste of time. This works extremely well in a speed-based platformer for two reasons. One, it keeps makes the pacing feel great for any player, and two, you obviously don't want to go slower in a speed game, especially in the escape sections where actual death is often only a matter of time.

This could trivialize any sense of difficulty aside from a player's intrinsic desire to improve, but the game actually requires you to rescue nearly of the Toppins to fight the bosses, which are analogous to the Teensies from Rayman. So basically, players are gonna have to do pretty well at all the levels anyway.

This could hurt the pacing in another way; If a player only barely scrapes by with Toppin requirements, they may have to replay a lot of levels before the climax. I only had to replay one to reach the requirement though, and I have to say, I don't know if I would've minded replaying more levels, because the one I replayed actually enhanced my experience.

This is because the game is far more difficult when you try to achieve the elusive P Ranks, or just try to improve your ranking in general. On replays, you get the opportunity to do the escape sequences twice in a row, which are consistently some of the most exhilarating moments of any game I've played.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What about the bosses? These are the other times Peppino can actually die, and can be pretty difficult. However, they're mostly pretty fun, although maybe a bit disconnected from the core game. It likely would've been possible for the game to have really challenging bosses while also keeping its core systems. If, for example, the game had a time limit for bosses and the bosses used transformation attacks that wasted your time. However, the bosses were still fun so I'm not too upset.

Speaking of transformations, the mechanics work a lot better than I would've expected. All of them are introduced well and are mostly simple enough to immediately understand. A few feel a bit disruptive, such as the bombs, but most promote the fast-paced nature of the game, and many have that true to Wario Land style of 'power-up or detriment based on context'. By far the best example of this is the level (Excuse my language) 'Oh Shit!', which may be the best level in the game. And while a few of these transformations are analogous to those of Wario Land, they're all pretty distinct and well done.

I could certainly see someone not liking the visuals, but I though they were excellent, and the 90s cartoon style greatly enhanced the energetic nature of the game. The animation and attention to detail is incredible, but I noticed that at least one stage has no parallax scrolling with the background, and I think this may be universal. It's not a big deal though, and is really only noticeable in stages with more expansive backgrounds.

Audiowise, the sound effects and soundtrack is great. However, I wish the soundtrack leaned more into either stereotypical Italian music or 90s Cartoon music instead of Funk and Rock. It would've added to the thematic unity a bit more.

Everything considered, I love this game. It's truly something special, and one of the few spiritual successors to truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the game it succeeded. Dare I say, it's a Masterpiece. 10/10.

...By the way, you unlock a costume if you keep Peppino in the dark for about a minute on the menu screen. Go do that right now. Actually, maybe wait until night to do it.

Pizza Tower has once again shown me that indie developers just know how to make a game fun. It is without a doubt one of the best games I've ever played. The whacky and sometimes creepy atmosphere and graphics fit perfectly to the gameplay, and had me grinning while racing through every level. From audio and visual stimuli to its chaotic gameplay, this game is truly handcrafted to perfection.


Even though the game throws you into new powerups and enemies constantly, you never feel lost or confused, because they are all introduced to you so clearly and maticulously that you immediately know what to do.

Afterwards, when the game has confirmed your understanding, it ramps up incredibly quickly, making you feel like you're mastering it at lightning speed. And boy does it feel amazing to go fast in this game! Enemies stop hurting you because they get scared, allowing you to rampage through them and only stopping when you want to (or by running into the occasional wall).

This is all accompanied by an impressively tight control scheme, that really only fails you if you use a Switch Pro Controller with drift like I did. Moves within moves are gradually added to your arsenal to make you easily transition between jumping, running and diving, raising the skill cap to the maximum.

If you for some reason ever get bored of going fast, the bosses provide a great break. I would argue two of them are a little too RNG-heavy, but that did not ruin their fun at all. A little inconsistency in the sea of dependability doesn't hurt as a change of pace.

Mastering Pizza Tower is so satisfying, too. I never felt like I didn't stand a chance against Perfect ranks or other level-bound achievements. I bet that the developers went out of their way to make perfection feel possible to encourage you to achieve it.

This game has quickly become one of my top 15, and will stay there for a long while to come. I don't think any platformer will match its magnificence for years. Although I was sweating and swearing through its chaos, I will forever remember Pizza Tower as the glorious platformer that it is.

"The very best videogames in existence leave you with a whole mess of memories that are so varied and entertaining that you can leaf through them like a photo album. VVVVVV is one of those games" - Quintin Smith

I agree wholeheartedly, and this idea has changed the way I think about games, and how I reflect on them.

VVVVVV is a special kind of game! Thanks Terry, thanks Souleye, thanks Bennett, and thanks Quinns!

C'mon boys, won't you shake a poor sinner’s hand?

Me and my girlfriend played this together and we felt like the smartest persons ever alive every time we solved one of the levels, yes, is THAT kind of game.

Handshakes was an extremely pleasant surprise, what seemed like a charming albeit simple free experience ended up being an incredible puzzle game, with thoughtful and fun level design and concept, and was a blast to go through.

Sure, a really plain visual style, just having one song and its briefness are things that do hold it back, but don't drag the experience in the slightest. Some levels here are amazing, and what seems like such limiting concept ends up giving some amazing puzzles; it's a very smart game, not only because it makes you FEEL smart, but it also knows how to use its elements and mechanics to their fullest potential, they may be simple additions, but they feel game-changing, and in a way they are. The level ‘’Not what it seems’’ ended up being one of my favorites despite being one of the simplest, it’s just… chef’s kiss.

Also, after playing a puzzle game without a rewind feature, this one having felt like the fucking ascension.

I don't know, it just was an extremely cool and pleasant puzzle game, just a couple of guys being dudes, shaking hands and having really fun puzzle design. I cannot wait for the sequel, it has the potential to be something incredible, and I'm all here for it.

Are you ready?!

In this game the whole universe’s stability depends on a giant semicolon and that has be the most genius thing ever put into any videogame... and that's the only thing I can say that its exceptional about it

Toodee and Topdee sold me on its concept since the first moment I saw it, the idea of controlling two completely different characters in two completely different perspectives in a puzzle/platforming setting that demands of you both thought and skill sounds incredible, and yet, as Toodee's perspective, it ends up falling flat.

That's not to say the game is nothing short of creative, 'cause holy hell if it oozes it: the first two worlds are a showcase of how this idea can lead into fantastic levels; it just keeps building on top of itself, expanding on what it already established, mixing old mechanics while introducing completely new ones, like the teleporting blocks in world 4, which lead to some amazing (albeit cumbersome) puzzles and challenges. But it's in these two worlds where the true meat of the game lies, the parts that will make you feel incredibly smart after you realize what you need to do, or even solving a problem in a way the game didn't account for. But then half-way through world 3, something terrible happened, something despicable and horrifying... I wasn't having fun.

Like... how is it possible? The past two worlds were a blast, how come from world 3 onwards the game just… didn’t feel right? After finishing, I thing the answer lies on the fact the game stops revolving around you trying different things and you finding an answer out of the multiple ones, to a trial and error festival that demands of you doing the puzzle the EXACT way the game wants you, and if you fuck up, you gotta repeat all over again. And you may be thinking: ‘’Demon you absolute nut shitter, that’s exactly what puzzle games are about’’, and while that’s true (tho we could argue that the best and most challenging puzzle games are the ones that let you solver their puzzles in multiple ways), Toodee and Topdee is also a platforming game, and that’s the thing that hampers it the most. Cryptic solutions, really wonky hitboxes at times, bosses that just feel like memory trials and not actual challenges that demand skill, and the one that ISN’T based around trial and error, it’s the most annoying lump of pixels I’ve ever come across in a LONG time. But perhaps worst of all, not only there’s the possibility of one of the two characters dying, and as such having to start THE WHOOOOOOOLE thing again, but it also doesn’t have any kind of rewind feature, and you know what that means: if you screw up at some point, and unless you are the most skilled player alive, YOU WILL, there’s no way to undo the error you just made, you have to start. All. Over. Again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. AND. AGAIN. It all just feels like frustration for the sake of frustration, all culminating on the last world and levels, in which you have to do them basically perfect if you want to complete them, as if you fuck it up even once, you die. The thing that basically sold me on the game, the mix of puzzling and platforming elements, ended up being the exact thing that caused it’s downfall, leaving the game stuck between dimensions, not knowing what it really wants to be, something that even affects the story!

While the two main characters are fine and charming, the game as a whole has dialogue that is constantly trying to make jokes, puns and soft fourth wall breaks, and even ignoring the fact that I didn’t find them particularly funny, it makes an ending that tries to be emotional completely meaningless. The game didn’t take itself seriously for most of the adventure, hell, there are barely any instances where the characters interact at all in the first place, if all of the story was like this, I wouldn’t even talk about it, but since the finale tries to go for this ‘’sappy’’ route, I’m not even surprised that I didn’t feel nothing, ‘cause, if the game can’t even make up its mind about what it really is, how can I even care?

And that’s what kills me, that I don’t care about Toodee and Topdee, because I wanted to love this game so badly. The concept, the first bunch of levels, the soundtrack, the animations, all amazing elements that cannot fix a frustrating, indecisive mess of a game that feels like it has a semicolon in the middle. I can’t call it bad, it does have some incredible moments, some (VERY) few levels even in the later half are good and the final section shows how this game really wanted to be something special, but even in that part it just was infuriating.

It's the worst kind of mediocre game: A game that has so many fun and genius elements ; yet it takes a path that makes it much worse that it could have been.

Tho I have to say, the game did teach me something, and that is that pigs in 3D are killing machines. Those pesky porks!

This game is great, don't get me wrong, but the abundance of content everywhere (and ones that are quite repetitive) bring the greatest moments of this game down. I loved the depths but I loathed how empty it was, empty as in copy pasted content all over. The story was surprisingly very good and had me hooked all the way to the end, I especially liked the last boss fight when it was a one-on-one. But for me, Breath of the Wild will still be the better game from this series; even though it may feel like an early access game after playing this one, TOTK takes content too far and fills the world with too many activities (most of which I did not want to partake in).

Disclaimer - I know the developers and (shortly) playtested a couple of early builds.
I'm a fan of their work and I think this finished game is fun and impressive but not without faults.


Toodee and Toodee is a hybrid of block pushing puzzle akin to Baba is You and a puzzle platformer/precision platformer-ish.

It has asymmetrical co-op which I think is the best way to play this game and is overall not a common trait in these genres.

I had fun through most of it, it does lose steam towards the end and there are a few difficulty spikes here and there. The game is fairly short and has a modular difficulty settings that helps smooth things out.

The game shines in puzzles that requires the players to spot the shtick and work with it to a quick solution.
late stages of every world become much more complex and require some reverse engineering and a lot of trial and error. This sometimes feel like a natural progression that's satisfying to crack but sometimes it feel like I'm playing a different game.

I think the game's biggest drawback is that it didn't lift quality of life features from similar games. - There were more than a few times I wished for Baba is You quick undo feature. Soft locking a level is common and is often attributed to a slip of the hand rather than miscalculations.

Similarly, the platforming sections are often very lethal and require precise timing and quick reactions. Games like Super Meat Boy or Celeste counter this by instantly bringing you back to the action, Toodee and Topdee is relatively slow and punishing.

The game's hybrid nature may not allow it to move as fast forementioned titles but it could allow checkpoints in levels. The game already does something similar during boss battles and it works great.

The game's art style is very cute, there's a lot of soul put into these little characters' animation.
Music is an absolute banger!


Overall I had a good time with it, co-op being the highlight - figuring out puzzles with your partner's literally different perspective is a lot of fun.