Pode (PlayStation 4) Review

When an unlikely pair comes together, a beautiful friendship blossoms. Seriously, these two instantly fall into the adorable video game character category, if there even is one.

Exclusively on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, Pode is a puzzle co-op game that can easily be played in single player too. Players take on the role of a star and a rock. The rock has made it its mission to help the fallen star return home and it’s certainly a beautiful journey to take with them.

When jumping into the world of Pode, I was instantly taken by the gorgeous art style and graphics. The lighting too, especially regarding how it interacts when the characters interact with the environment became one of my favourite things to watch. It was also fun to see how both the rock and the star interacted with the environment in their own way and their contributions to the tasks at hand.

Seamless puzzle games are what I strive for when taking on games that dominantly feature puzzles.

Yes, the puzzles need to be a challenge and get harder as time goes on, but there’s nothing worse than being faced with a puzzle that ruins the narrative flow and makes me want to constantly leave the game. Because of this, I welcomed the puzzles featured in Pode and although they came with their challenges at times I never felt as though I wanted to leave the game and question when to come back again later. This doesn’t necessarily mean they were easy or could be easy for the gamer, it simply means the puzzle and narrative integration was seamless.

Character wise, I loved the two sweet characters featured in Pode. I especially loved how they had to work together to navigate the world and reiterate a theme that one is stronger with others. The ‘charm’ behind the two characters and Pode as an overall game was complimented by a beautiful instrumental score that featured calming, almost lullaby music that fitted with the night-time setting.

The gameplay and controls were clear and easy to understand. Although a bit laggy into the load of some Levels, you wondered whether this was simply because the game was in early days on PlayStation 4.

You can play the game with another player if you would like and it kind of makes more sense to do so, but I found it fine on my own. The controls weren’t clunky or difficult to navigate as a single player as opposed to having control of the characters via two players.

[rns_reactions]

Gameplay 3/5

Graphics 4/5

Audio 4/5

Replayability 2.5/5

Overall 3.5/5