E3 2011: Papo & Yo

Coming exclusively to PSN, this quirky story of a boy and his monster friend is one of the most fascinating games at E3.

2

QUICKTAKE: The indie scene is filled with deeply personal games that try something new and make you think "huh?" Papo & Yo is one of those games. Coming exclusively to the PlayStation Network, this quirky story of a boy and his monster friend is one of the most fascinating games at E3. Technical shortcomings hinder the experience, but it has the workings of becoming a potential indie darling.

THE DEMO: The short demo introduced a young boy, Quico, participating in what appears to be a game of hide and seek. As he makes his way through a desolate village, he meets Lula, a flying robot that Quico can pick up and command. After picking him up, the dreamlike adventure continues. Quico chases a boy through a glowing door on the side of a building.

As Quico makes his way through a cave, he comes upon a rope that makes a floating staircase appear. Quico can command Lula to hold the rope to keep the staircase steady as he traverses upward. Eventually, Quico comes across a chasm that can only be crossed by moving cardboard boxes, magically connected to houses in the distance, and arrange them to create a path across. Running across the newly-formed bridge of roofs, the demo ends.

DETAILS: What makes Papo & Yo feel so unique is its ability to remind you of the magic of childhood. Seeing Papo carry a cardboard box and seeing a house in the distance move in exactly the same way is a reminder of how imaginative children can feel. This is a beautiful dream-like world, and I can only hope that more moments like this pepper the entire experience.

While the art and premise have me sold, I am concerned about the technical shortcomings in the demo. Quico is a difficult boy to control, and traversing a winding path is rather difficult to do. While I don't expect the game to have the same responsiveness as a Mario game, simply moving around the environment shouldn't be so difficult. Given Papo's expected 2012 release, there's still a lot of time to polish the game and work on glitches, like clipping. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing much more of the game in the future.

Watch the Shacknews E3 2011 page to follow all our coverage of this year's show. You can also subscribe to it with your favorite RSS reader.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 11, 2011 1:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, E3 2011: Papo & Yo.

    Coming exclusively to PSN, this quirky story of a boy and his monster friend is one of the most fascinating games at E3.

    • reply
      June 12, 2011 9:16 AM

      yess! I heard about this, supposed to be real cool.

    • reply
      June 12, 2011 10:41 PM

      i do love how sony are pretty liberal when it comes to their psn titles, always willing to try something different and a bit left field.

Hello, Meet Lola