Developer Hypergryph, known more for its hit gacha title Arknights than anything else, is doing something completely new with the upcoming title Popucom. There’s no gacha in sight, nor is it a mobile game — it’s a premium title that is, inside and out, its very own thing.
When we checked out Popucom at PAX West 2024, it was a surprise, to say the least. I came in with little knowledge on the title besides its cooperative platformer, color-matching premise, but I left wanting to learn (and play) much more. With Popucom, fun is guaranteed.
Popucom – Part Matching Game, Part Platformer
Popucom has a delightfully simple concept executed so wonderfully. Take elements from color-matching games like Zuma’s Revenge, a dash of Splatoon, and make it co-op. It’s a game that requires a minimum of two players with a maximum of four, so friends are mandatory, but that just makes it even more fun.
I played my Popucom demo with a developer, and across several levels I was able to grasp the basics of this game’s premise. Playing two-player co-op gives you the ability to shoot two different colors — so I was assigned blue and green. A simple button press shifts your color instantaneously. My partner had two other, different colors.
As a platformer, you’ll traverse stages with plenty of obstacles, and those obstacles also have assigned colors. At one point, my companion and I are on a moving platform and barriers block the way; each barrier is colored differently, so we have to alternate shooting these blockades with the correct color so we don’t fall off.
This is just a very simple objective, but as one can imagine, Popucom‘s gameplay can (and will) range in complexity. One level had us use a shield ability, which blocked beams of a certain color. In blocking these, your friend doesn’t get zapped by the beams and we can proceed through the stage. You’re also able to raise the shield like a platform, to the uses of these tools are multifaceted.
Blast Enemies Away in Popucom
There’s also combat in Popucom, and you’ll fight blob-like enemies comprising different colors. Some enemies are singular blobs, and so you’ll shoot them twice to add another blob on top of it a la Zuma’s Revenge (or any other color-matching type game), which defeats them. It becomes a bit more complex when you fight enemies composed of multiple blobs and all four colors.
These cartoonish monstrosity’s require a bit more precision with your shots and fall apart piece by piece in such a cool way. Of course, if you miss and shoot the wrong color at the wrong blob, the enemy grows bigger. This can be a bit tricky for someone who is colorblind such as myself, but I’m told there will be accessibility options for this on launch.
The final part of my Popucom demo had me fight against a gigantic snake. Its long body is made of these colored orbs– so of course, we shoot the corresponding color at them — but things get a bit more tricky when the boss shot out colored obstacles that needed to be nullified with a shot.
Eventually, we hop on this roller coaster and follow the snake through the crowds as it shoots projectiles at us — which, you guessed it, we need to shoot — and eventually we whittle away the boss’s body and defeat it.
I find it’s a bit difficult for me to find the words to describe Popucom‘s gameplay, which is strange for such a simple concept. Rest assured, it’s one of those games that once you see it, you’ll understand immediately. Popucom concocted a formula for the perfect cooperative experience, and I can’t wait for more.
Popucom was previewed during PAX West 2024.
