Just want to get this bit off my chest first. I kinda hate some of the aesthetic direction in this game. Not all of it; the actual art design of the world is generally strong and the music slaps, and I particularly like how the trip-hop vibes in some of the tracks give a dingey arcade-hall-y feel to some areas to match the pinballing gameplay. But overall, Yoku definitely prioritizes being cutesy, quirky and cozy; to me, that's the unholy fucking trinity of tones that just piss me off. Parts of this game genuinely feel designed specifically to annoy; half the characters (yourself included) constantly squeak like dog toys for no goddamn reason, and I genuinely nearly abandoned the game when I realised my main way of interacting with the world was via a party blower. Maybe there's just something wrong in my brain but I really cannot stand cutesy 'lol randem' humour like this at all, and Yoku might be the single most not-for-me game I've ever played in that aspect.
Grumpy old man rant aside, this is an extraordinarily fun metroidvania. The pinball elements of Yoku help it to achieve something that games like the Tony Hawk's Pro Skaters manage, in that the act of movement in-and-of itself is both enjoyable and rewarding. I'm honestly surprised how well the pinball boards just slide into the gap that platforming would normally occupy in a Metroidvania; before playing this I would never have thought those were two genres that would merge well at all, but Yoku made them seem like the most natural pairing in the world.
But does the gimmicky movement make free exploration and backtracking a bit more awkward (as is the case in something like Dandara)? Well... yeah, i guess, but generally I didn't care because that was part of the fun, rather than something I just had to do to get between fun bits. And I think that's the most brilliant thing about Yoku; it's gimmick helps to counteract a couple of issues present in the Metroidvania genre as a whole. It actually made backtracking feel great!
I think the one spot Yoku's pacing isn't so great is whenever its economy gets involved. The only times you really get large amounts of currency is in the dedicated pinball boards, but in those doing literally anything just absolutely showers you with money. This is good, this is what pinball should do from a feedback point of view, but it clashes awkwardly with your coin capacity (which is small for most of the game) and your constant need to pay small amounts to unlock new paths. I found the economy to be extremely feast-or-famine; multiple times I'd be 10 fruit short of buying something, and then have to trek all the way back to the last dedicated pinball board and win far too much fruit because there just is no way to easily make a small amount of money in this game.
So yeah, I can recommend this. Like I said this is aesthetically very much a 'not for me' game, but even I can admit there is some charm in that department, and the underlying gameplay is more than strong enough to carry the experience. A weird combination well-executed and I now want to see more pinballtroidvanias.
Grumpy old man rant aside, this is an extraordinarily fun metroidvania. The pinball elements of Yoku help it to achieve something that games like the Tony Hawk's Pro Skaters manage, in that the act of movement in-and-of itself is both enjoyable and rewarding. I'm honestly surprised how well the pinball boards just slide into the gap that platforming would normally occupy in a Metroidvania; before playing this I would never have thought those were two genres that would merge well at all, but Yoku made them seem like the most natural pairing in the world.
But does the gimmicky movement make free exploration and backtracking a bit more awkward (as is the case in something like Dandara)? Well... yeah, i guess, but generally I didn't care because that was part of the fun, rather than something I just had to do to get between fun bits. And I think that's the most brilliant thing about Yoku; it's gimmick helps to counteract a couple of issues present in the Metroidvania genre as a whole. It actually made backtracking feel great!
I think the one spot Yoku's pacing isn't so great is whenever its economy gets involved. The only times you really get large amounts of currency is in the dedicated pinball boards, but in those doing literally anything just absolutely showers you with money. This is good, this is what pinball should do from a feedback point of view, but it clashes awkwardly with your coin capacity (which is small for most of the game) and your constant need to pay small amounts to unlock new paths. I found the economy to be extremely feast-or-famine; multiple times I'd be 10 fruit short of buying something, and then have to trek all the way back to the last dedicated pinball board and win far too much fruit because there just is no way to easily make a small amount of money in this game.
So yeah, I can recommend this. Like I said this is aesthetically very much a 'not for me' game, but even I can admit there is some charm in that department, and the underlying gameplay is more than strong enough to carry the experience. A weird combination well-executed and I now want to see more pinballtroidvanias.