I just love this game. It's one of those games that you play it and you feel good inside and nowadays, these types of games are hard to find.
In Pode, you control two funky characters, a fallen star and a rock. These two embark on a journey to reach a mountain summit so that the fallen star could get back up there, in the sky.
This journey is hard as the pair needs to solve ever evolving and quite challenging puzzles to progress and climb the mountain. The fallen star can emit light which grows the vegetation around it which you can use as platforms to walk or jump, while the rock can attract stuff via, and I am guessing, it's magnetic field which will help you activate switches. Later these "powers" are expanded and well, you will need to do a lot more to solve the challenging puzzles later in the game, but I don't want to spoil anything.
You can play the game with a friend via couch co-op and I would highly advise you to do just that. Of course, you can still play the game solo, like I did cause I have no friends, but it will be more challenging as I will explain.
If you play the game with a friend, you will control the fallen star and your friend the rock. Basically, you will do half the work, but have double the puzzle thinking since you are playing co-op. But if you go solo, you will have to control both characters, use their abilities once at a time or both at the same time, switch between them, move them, do some jumping puzzles etc. all by yourself.
And by the end, solving a puzzle felt like I was trying to perform a combo in King of Fighters 98'. I had to press and hold a lot of buttons to do a lot of precise stuff in order to progress further. Now, I am not complaining about the difficulty of the game, it's just an observation that I think I need to mention if you go solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuxUty6sKiE&feature=youtu.be
Developed by a small Norwegian studio, you can see the influences of Nordic culture in the presentation of the game, both visually and musically. The art style is simple but lovely. The characters even though they are just an orange ball and a blue box, are full of life and emotions. How they move is lovely, their faces or emotes are lovely and how they "speak" to each other is lovely.
I am so glad and happy I got a chance to play Pode on my PS4 Pro. I am not so glad that I played it solo and made life difficult for myself. But still, it's a great and lovely experience which I will gladly return to in the future to play with my niece. Thanks for reading!
Pode is available today for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
