Games like Adventures of Pip are why I have faith in kickstarter. I was one of the fortunate few to get my hands on an early playable build of the game and let me tell you, it was pretty darn fun. Adventures of Pip has a nifty little story, revolving around a magical land where pixels mean power, and the wealthier are much more detailed with pixels while the poor are simple, low pixel count beings. An evil queen unleashes her wrath, stealing most of the pixels from the land for her own use, and then enters Pip.
Pip is a simple 1-pixel boy who has survived the Queen’s rage and has to save the kingdom. This is who you play as you defeat enemies and solving puzzles. In this aspect, Adventures of Pip reminds me a lot of Metroid or Castlevania. While the game is stage-based and backtracking is not nearly as emphasized, the intuitive and fun puzzles bring about the same joy, with modern and retro twists.
In the playable demo that I enjoyed, shortly after my journey began I was greeted by a ghostly knight, Sir Elewyn. Sir Elewyn recognizes Pip’s nobility, and grants him the ability of evolution. This is the core mechanic of the game, Pip’s ability to evolve from a 1-bit hopping square, to an 8-bit agile boy, and then again to a detailed 32-bit warrior. Each version of Pip has its own benefits and drawbacks, and you’ll have to utilize all three in order to overcome the game’s many challenges.
I found this very enjoyable, and very clever, and this is what sets the game aside from every other 2D platformer out there. The game utilizes the history of video gaming as a tool for you to use, evolving and downgrading Pip across pixel graphics. In order to clear high jumps, long gaps or fit in tiny places, you’ll have to downgrade to a single square. If you’ve got to go fast or wall jump, you better evolve to Pip’s more agile 8-bit form. To defeat large enemies with ease or push large boxes you must transform to the detailed 32-bit Pip. This allows the developers to create truly enjoyable, yet challenging, scenarios in which you must think quickly. In order to evolve you must destroy one of the crystallized enemies with a blue-aura, making you want to avoid devolving unless you must. So if you see any of these little buggers, you should probably expect a change of form.
Adventures of Pip‘s landscapes are gorgeous. Everything looks as though it was hand-drawn, and the pixelated style fits the story and game mechanics well. The universe feels like it was once lived in, and each level seems to breathe with life and individuality. In my short demo, I traveled across broken castles, mayan-like temples and populated forests. All of this is complemented well by the retro music style, composed by Jake “virt” Kaufman, who also worked on Shantae’s Curse and Shovel Knight.
In my short time with the game, I had an immense amount of fun. In fact, with all the hidden collectibles and tough challenges, I had to play it more than once! I think my favorite portion of the demo was when just ahead there were two golden chests beneath a ray of sun just waiting to be opened but in front of them was a pit. This pit led to the most intense and challenging portion of the demo. You enter the pit as agile Pip (well, you’re supposed to at least) and almost immediately the walls begin to close in. You must run as fast as you can, miss a step, and you’re dead.To add to the challenge Pip has to evolve and devolve on the fly to survive, adding to the mayhem. If you’ve ever played the original Metroid or one of its remakes, this felt very much like one of the timed segments where all hell breaks loose and you must escape!
Adventures of Pip is a stylish, unique and fun 2D platformer, with a strong sense of self. The story, landscape, music and mechanics present give this game the potential to be one of my favorite indie games of all time.
