Wuppo is a game that I have beaten a couple times. They were all a couple of years ago, but I recently played through the game again and had to give it a review on my blog. How good is the game? Is it a niche hidden gem? Lets find out!

Disclaimer: All the art and screenshots discussed and shown are own by the creators of Wuppo. I do not own any of it nor will I claim that I do, so if you love it as well please check them out! with that said let us jump into Wuppo.

What is Wuppo?

Wuppo, as described by their steam store page, is a metroidvania, exploration, platformer, where you play as a wum that was exiled from his home. Their store page also states something subjective, yet descriptive that I totally agree with; that the the world is a bizarre but charming one, but more on that later. The game was developed by Knuist&Perzik and released in 2016.

Gameplay.

Wuppo has an emphasis on the exploration in their game. It is a game that does not give the player many hints, and allows them to explore all they want. There are collectibles that are rewards for exploration as well, meaning there are lots of secret rooms and nooks and crannies to look through. They maintain the exploration aspect by keeping the controls of the game very intuitive, so that they player really can get a feel for their explorative limits with the character.

The game, as stated above, has very intuitive and simple controls, which dictates the gameplay. The game has combat to go along with its exploration, and the combat gets a lot deeper than I had initially thought. There is a nice curve when it comes to the complexity of the combat in Wuppo, and I can really appreciate that. You start out with a simple little gumgum cannon that you can upgrade later, with all sorts of different types and abilities, let alone other weapons that are offered later on.

The gameplay is super responsive, which is great during the many boss fights throughout the game. I find that the bosses are a great selling point of the game, because they can be a nice challenge to show off what you have collected through your exploration. This makes those two mechanics bounce off of each other and feel all that more rewarding in the end. Getting to show off a new weapon you found, or take a couple of attacks from all the hp upgrades you find feels really good, and has always been sort of a staple of metroidvanias.

Art and world building.

Wuppo has a fantastic art direction and style! Just by looking at the picture above, one can glean a couple of events that are happening. Not only do they build up an amazing world and atmosphere through their art, they do so in a way that does not overwhelm the player. Their art uses amazing line art, and strong distinction because of how their world is built in the game.

What do I mean by that? Well the game has a world that always seems like it is acting almost independent of the player. This was one of the biggest surprises to me, as I would personally use this as my selling point of Wuppo. It does a great job of making characters move around and randomly interact with each other, regardless of the player intervention. For example, in the photo above, there are robbers who will often get arrested, or make a break for it and you are just a passive observer. This is one of the many examples, and their art does a great job of making one blend in, yet making sure you never lose who or where you are.

Soundtrack.

The game’s soundtrack is another thing that is masterfully implemented to created a great world and atmosphere. Every time you hear a song, no matter what situation you are in, you know that it not only fits the art style of the game, but that it fits the situation. Boss music sounds menacing, especially on the bigger sized bosses, while the song in that town square is a lot more bustling sounding. Yet with a happy twist on them all, because of the overarching cute and happy style of the game.

Miscellaneous comments.

This game uses an interesting health system that I wanted to talk about here at the end. The hp used in Wuppo is called Happiness. This ties in to all of the elements and the game as a whole so cutely! The game likes for you to explore ways to make others happy to get more hp, the art style and the soundtrack are very happy based, all so that you as a player can feel happy while playing there game. The game has such a positive, happy overtone to it that I think is often overlooked when the game is discussed. It has amazing mechanics, an amazing world, and it does what they want their game to do by making you happy as you play through all these amazing tactics.

They also have a very active discord and reddit accounts. I love when indie devs interact with their fans and listen to what they have to say. Meaning that if you really enjoy the game and want more, or to just have a community around the game itself, they have one up themselves. There is all kinds of information over there about the game as well if a simple google search doesn’t answer your questions.

Lastly, I want to mention that at the time of me writing and publishing this, the game is on sale for 90 percent off. So if after reading this and you want to check out the game for yourself it is very cheap until may 31st. I highly recommend you go and buy it if any of this has piqued your interest!!

Hi all, I hope you enjoyed today’s post. It is a bit later than usual, but I really am happy that you read this far!! Again please check them out on their twitter which I linked above as well as check out the game on steam. If you liked this post, I hope you will follow me here or on twitter and comment your thoughts wherever I am, I will try to respond to each and every one. Thank you all and see you all on Monday!!