POPUCOM, developed by Hypergryph and published by Gryph Frontier, is a co-op puzzle shooter that focuses on the player completing various levels in a cooperative manner. The main thing about this game is the focus on the anime aesthetic, and from the company that developed Arknights, the designs of the game have gotten the style nailed down to a T. Moreover, due to the focus on co-op, the game at times feels reminiscent of Portal 2 in some aspects. Other than that, the game is pretty fun to just kick back and play with friends and just enjoy playing in each other’s company.
The gameplay is mostly based on solving puzzles and some combat to an extent. However, at the start of the game, players can play either story mode or party mode, with both modes containing their fair share of fun. For the story mode, it is exclusively two players and co-op and focuses on the player going through a simpler on-the-rails narrative that focuses on both of the players going through the standard journey of going through levels and fighting the boss. To go a little bit further into the gameplay, players can switch between two different colors in order to solve various puzzles. The puzzles can come in the form of enemies, walls, and even platforms, providing players a healthy challenge for them to go against. Also, when encountering enemies, players will drop hearts, and once they are dropped, they can be picked up again, making the game pretty easy. By making the game this easy can allow people who are getting into gaming as a hobby to have an easier time and provide an example as to why people enjoy the hobby.
These puzzles can be as simple as changing colors to walk through walls or utilizing various platforms as jump pads to get to higher locations in combination with shooting various objects. One game that comes to mind when playing is Portal 2 co-op with Atlas and Pea-body with a strong focus on cooperation, with puzzle solving taking center stage and the narrative being sprinkled about every now and then.
As for the party mode, it requires 4 people to play and focuses on the multiplayer experience to a higher degree for the game itself. Other than that, one small feature this game has that is quite a nice change of pace from the constant online multiplayer is local co-op, where two players can sit down and play the game together in front of the monitor or TV screen and just play the game together. Moreover, for older gamers this is a blast of nostalgia especially those who invited friends over to play some local games of like Mario Party, Halo, etc.
This game is a solid 8/10 game for those who are interested in a chill co-op game that has an anime aesthetic. Hypergryph has developed another game, and this is by far outside their comfort zone, which is great for the developers to get used to more 3D elements. Moreover, this allowed the writers a chance to write something more wholesome as opposed to the more serious nature of the games that they write for. As for the gameplay, it is quite astounding from the developers, as the main game they are known for is a 2D tower defense game called Arknights. The studio should be proud of themselves for pushing into 3D development and focusing on that.
POPUCOM is heading to PC via Steam on June 1st. You can wishlist the game right now.
Related: Reviews by Kyle Manila
I would describe myself when interacting with games as a strategist with a pension for stealth and loud explosions.
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