Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo from PM Studios and Pocket Trap brings us an old-school-infused pixeltastic 2D top-down adventure on PS5. Learn more in our Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo review!
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo from PM Studios and Pocket Trap brings us an old-school-infused pixeltastic 2D top-down adventure on PlayStation 5. You’re part of the Pippistrello family, owners of Pippistrello Industries, who, over the last decade, have become the leading electricity provider in New Jolt City. The secret to their success is the patented discovery of the energetic properties of the Wild Denquinellia Rose. Using its extract, they can produce a ton of electricity. As expected, the other companies in the city folded after such an overwhelming and powerful entity gained control of all electricity generation. Unfortunately, this has led the power-hungry company to raise its prices repeatedly, which does not sit well with the population.
It’s a narrative-driven experience that its developers are billing as the first Yoyovania out there. You’ll be taking on the role of Pippit, a budding yoyo master who must use this mighty item to defeat those foolish enough to stand in your way. It all began one day when you returned home to Pippistrello Manor with your auntie… except she wasn’t there waiting for you. You know something’s wrong when you realize part of Pippistrello Manor is flooded, and you then run into your first enemy: a blob wearing a beanie hat! Once you make your way to Madame Pippistrello’s office, you’ll learn that the cameras have been malfunctioning, and she’s still to find what is causing this.
It’s thanks to this that the four bosses that you’ll eventually be fighting against show up: failed mall owner and junk-food overlord, Don Mauretti, unscrupulous head of construction and natural resource plunderer, Slime Tycoon, exploitative marketing strategist and advocate for sedentary technologies, Toxy, and backstage deal maker and performance manipulator Cuca Carrara. The four have joined forces to use their mega-batteries to charge them up with a contraption that will take out Madame Pippistrello once and for all. While the contraption is doing its thing, you jump and use your yoyo to try to interfere. While the four bosses manage to charge their mega-batteries, it seems that Madame Pippistrello is fused with your yoyo! You must now find and defeat the four bosses and recover the energy in their mega-batteries to bring your antie back to her former self before it’s too late!
Once you spring into action, you’ll control Pippit using the left analog stick or the D-Pad, attacking with your yoyo by using the Square button. You can jump by pressing the X button. With this one being of the Metroidvania variety, you’ll be learning new yoyo tricks that will allow you to explore each area and teach each boss a lesson or two along the way! The additional yoyo tricks will be used by pressing the L1, R1, L2, or R2 buttons and a face button. You could, for example, perform the Offstring Throw with your yoyo by pressing the R2 button and the Square button, so that you can hit a switch that is on the other side of the room.
You’ll get to learn the basics during your first visit to Pippistrello Manor. You know, things such as how you can use your yoyo not only to attack enemies but also to grab coins, roses, and items, or how collecting roses will allow you to heal some of your wounds. You can also use your yoyo to attack and have it twist and turn as it hits angles, which can be quite useful during some of the more packed areas you’ll explore, as you take down enemies or hit switches that would otherwise have been out of reach. Be careful about any pits or bodies of water you find yourself near, since falling into them will have you lose some of your health!
You’ll have to explore the busy city as you make your way through its four districts, which offer more than 1,000 screens for you to dive into! On top of that, you can search for 40 ability-enhancing Badges that can change how you approach things. These include the Eye Badge, which will allow you to take a look at your enemy’s remaining hit points, or the Life Badge, which will increase your hit points by a single extra point. In order to balance things out, you’ll need Badge Points to equip Badges, and you will have to find a way to boost your total BP. You can collect Petal Containers to boost your overall health, as well as
You can use your hard-earned coins to purchase items to aid you on your mission, or to unlock fast-travel spots around the city to speed up your adventure. You can also visit cousin Pippo at the safe house to have him work on any blueprints you find to create new Badges, or to refine the Badges you already have to improve them… for a fee. Improving your Badges is definitely worth it in the long run, so that you can get the most out of your current BP total.
Upgrades can be obtained at the safe house by making a deal with your cousin Pepita. She’s a bit of a germaphobe, so she won’t be taking your coins for any of the more than 20 passive upgrades you can unlock. Instead, you’ll choose which upgrade you want, and then she’ll collect all of the coins you find on your behalf to pay for the cost of the upgrade. And yes, there’s certainly a catch! While indebted, a negative effect will be set in place, and it can only be removed once you’ve paid every last coin to Pepita.
And now, let’s talk about the trophies! This release features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you to add it to your collection. The list is split into 16 Bronze trophies, 12 Silver trophies, and 4 Gold trophies for you to work on. Some of the objectives that you’ll have to complete include finding the safe house, paying off a contract with Pepita, learning a special move, defeating each boss and collecting their mega-bateries, building a Badge from a blueprint, obtaining enough Petal Containers to get an extra life point, and collecting enough BP Parts for an extra BP, to name some examples.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo brings us an old-school-infused pixeltastic 2D top-down adventure on PlayStation 5. You’re part of the Pippistrello family, owners of Pippistrello Industries, who, over the last decade, have become the leading provider of electricity in New Jolt City. The secret to their success is the patented discovery of the energetic properties of the Wild Denquinellia Rose. By using its extract, they’re able to produce a ton of electricity. As expected, the other companies in the city folded after such an overwhelming and powerful entity gained control of all electricity generation. Unfortunately, this has led the power-hungry company to raise its prices over and over again, which does not sit well with the population.
Pocket Trap previously gave us the flashy beat ’em up Ninjin: Clash of Carrots, a game that we previously had a chance to review on Nintendo Switch a handful of years ago, so I was definitely up for checking out Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo on Sony’s current-gen console. This one’s a fun experience that pays homage to the classic top-down entries in the beloved The Legend of Zelda series while adding its own spin on things on top.
There are some accessibility options as well as some difficulty customization options for you to consider. The accessibility options allow you to activate or deactivate screenshake, choose the level of controller vibration, as well as change the game speed as needed. As for the difficulty customization options, they allow you to add extra life, extra BP, establish a boost for damage dealt, lower damage received, increase rose drops and money drops from enemies, establish how much money you lose when you get a game over, and even the option to nulify fall damage. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is available on PlayStation 5 with a $19.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by PM Studios.
