Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo - Switch Review
"Tight gameplay coupled with beautiful visuals makes for an absolute treat."
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a beautiful-looking adventure game from Brazilian studio Pocket Trap, known for their previous title Dodgeball Academia. Keeping on the theme of sports-based RPGs, the key gameplay item in Pipistrello is, you guessed it, the trusty old yoyo.
As a kid I lived through the late 90s/early 00s yoyo trend where everyone at school was trying to ‘walk the dog’ (ask your parents), so seeing a yoyo-based RPG has certainly piqued my interest!
The Good
In Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, you play as Pippit, a young yoyo enthusiast who is part of the wealthy and influential Pipistrello family. Right at the start, Auntie Pipistrello is kidnapped by an evil gang, and Pippit sets on their way to try and rescue her. This is not the usual good vs. evil, however, as the Pipistrello family are relatively unpopular due to their monopoly and grandeur over the city. This was a refreshing take (and perhaps some satire) because as gamers we’re used to being the good guys, but I rather perversely enjoyed representing a mildly hated family such as the Pipistrellos, and it also made for some great comedy moments throughout. That’s certainly accentuated by the humour in Pipistrello; it’s well written and sarcastic, and I’m pleased to say that none of that is lost in translation. The villainous undertones and hilarious dialogue are a storytelling match made in heaven.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is absolutely gorgeous. Quite clearly influenced by Game Boy Advance titles such as Wario Land 4, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Metroid Fusion, Pipistrello looks as good as them all, and perhaps even better. The music is foot-tappingly addictive too, making for a delightfully nostalgic package. The game design structure is probably most aligned to Zelda, with a hub town and branching areas in different directions. Initially you can choose one of two areas to venture out to but this of course opens up as you unlock more yoyo abilities. The yoyo also forms the main form of combat, as Pippit is able to deflect the yoyo off angled surfaces or toss their yoyo across the room. Somehow Pocket Trap managed to keep things feeling fresh throughout despite there only really being one weapon available.
The game world in Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is adorned with lots of secrets and collectibles, as you’d expect from an RPG. There are ways of increasing your health that work the same way as pieces of hearts, and there are also badges to collect that buff Pippit in certain situations. None of this is original, of course, but I don’t really care when the exploration and yoyo-based puzzle mechanics are so much fun! Tracking things down to 100% Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo never feels like a chore, and there are also a few mini-games along the way. I kept finding myself thinking how impressive it was that Pocket Trap decided to invest so much time in making this element of the game so engrossing when it would have been easier to just lazily place things around the game world.
TL;DR
- Fun, humorous dialogue
- A heartwarming GBA homage
- Plenty of secrets and collectibles to hunt down
The Bad
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is mostly fun; however, there are some really frustrating difficulty spikes. I have been moaning that recent 2D Zeldas have become too dumbed down and you rarely die when completing them, so perhaps I should be careful what I wish for because you will die A LOT in Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo. Certainly early on, where you have three hearts and every piece of damage you take takes away a whole heart, you really don’t have much margin for error. You also lose coins when you die, which I found really frustrating because in some areas I was just haemorrhaging my hard-earned game currency. Making the difficulty hard is one thing, but overly punishing the player is another.
I really can’t think of much else to grumble about in Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, to be honest. The overworld map is massive and sprawling and I did find myself getting lost quite a few times or going down a bit of a dead end where I couldn’t progress further either due to the aforementioned difficulty spike or because I just didn’t have the right ability yet. Sometimes you just have to use trial and error to work out where to go next and this can lead to some wasted minutes of gameplay.
TL;DR
- Some frustrating difficulty spikes
- Easy to lose your way and waste time in the overworld
Final Score: 8/10
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo will actually be the last game I review in the pre-Nintendo Switch 2 era, and what a way to bow out. Tight gameplay coupled with beautiful visuals makes for an absolute treat.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo will be popular with Zelda fans, Metroid fans, nostalgia fans, and pretty much everyone who loves a good old-fashioned adventure. Well done, Pocket Trap
Thank you for checking out our Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo Switch review, thank you to PM Studios (via Renaissance PR) for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
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