Charming, bite-sized fun. Best played with kids.

Piku himself, like a blob, is a meaningless avatar and could be replaced with a cursor. In terms of the story, the enjoyment revolves around the cast of characters you meet. The NPCs are charming and frequently funny in a dry, "joke relatable to adults but will fly over kids' heads" kind of way. The closest comparison I can think of is Donut County, an excellent short game.

It's unfortunate then that unlike Donut County, I found the gameplay loop of Pikuniku extremely dull. Donut County was kinda stupid, but at least nom-ming everything with a hole speaks to a nice primal part of the brain. Here, walking around isn't inherently fun. The platforming wasn't challenging enough, and the floaty controls which are charming in the overworld turned out to be a detriment. The puzzles were way on the easier side. Was kinda bored most of the time.

And I acknowledge that this is a me thing rather than the game itself. I mean, it's still cute. But if I wasn't playing this with my kid, I would have dropped it way before the end of the game.