Papo & Yo

개발자가 어릴 적에 겪은 트라우마를 바탕으로, 자신의 유년 시절을 치유하기 위해 빚어낸 자전적 동화. 서사 속에 스며든 아버지를 향한 아들의 마음은 슬프도록 담담하다. 알코올 중독에 신음하는 아버지를 어떻게든 구원하고 싶었던 아들의 처절한 몸부림. 그리고 끝내 그 치료에 실패해 떠나버린 아버지를 받아들이며 마침내 이뤄내는 정신적 독립.

What the heck did I just play? What is this story? You are a kid in the favelas, there is a native looking girl, a giant monster that eats mangos and you can use him as a jumppad, except he sometimes turns into fire and attacks you while you operate dream puzzles that change the environment, except sometimes you are transported to a repetitive black and white flashback scene.

Mais do que um jogo de puzzle, é uma sessão de terapia conforme o desenvolvimento da história, é curto porém é uma verdadeira experiência q marca. Deem uma chance de viver Papo & Yo. Alejandraaaaaaaaa.

Short and sweet puzzle platformer

Here's another game that I played on PS3 when I was a kid. Looking back now, I feel like the PS3 era was such a special time in the gaming world. Papo & Yo, The Unfinished Swan, Journey, The Cave, Limbo, Flower, Flow, The Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet, Fat Princess, etc. I know these games shaped my interests today. Playstation Home as well, I’d say that counts as a game here. I even remember getting a shirt for my PS Home avatar back in 2011. It was a virtual E3 event and you could get promotional goodies for your avatar by watching game trailers. I watched the trailer, got the shirt, and equipped it. It was a black shirt with one of the frogs from the game clinging to your back. I thought it was the cutest thing and I was so excited for the game to come out. I played it when it came out and without a doubt, it made me very emotional. That was 14 years ago. Here I am 14 years later, playing through the game again. Obviously the game looks a bit dated in some aspects, but overall still very pretty. There’s also that nostalgia factor for me. A big thing for me is that playing this again felt ironic. That’s because when I played it as a kid, I was blissfully ignorant and in my own imaginative world. Playing it years later though, I think back to that time and I realize that the game sort of became true for me. That's why it feels ironic. Not every aspect came true, but definitely the main message of letting someone that you love go. Understanding that you can’t help them, and they can only help themselves in the end. They have to want to. Focusing less on my life story and more on the game now. The sounds of the cuíca drum, Brazilian whistles, and the kora are absolutely gorgeous and tug at my heart strings. Especially during the ending sequence. The favela is hauntingly beautiful. I say that because there are very few people in the world of “Papo & Yo.” A boy, a girl, the monster, the little robot, and frogs. These are the only living beings in the world. It definitely feels like you are playing the boy's dream. The world you're in, is something only his brain could invent. It’s the result of him processing everything that he’s going through. The pretty art on the sides of buildings, rainbows, doodle animations, collectible hats, sounds of running on Spanish tile roofing and sparkling white chalk material, and the sun shining through the tops of trees all add to that dreamlike quality. I love the main menu with the white silhouettes of frogs. That reminded me of The Unfinished Swan a little bit. “Papo & Yo” is a short game that has a surprisingly emotional and serious message. Despite it looking or feeling dated in moments, I’d still recommend it. If you are looking for a beautiful story and experience, play it. If you’re looking for a challenging puzzle game, you won’t find that here, but I’d still recommend it anyway haha.

Papo & Yo is a short but memorable puzzle-platformer that uses its surreal favela setting and the relationship between Quico and Monster to tell an unflinching autobiographical story about growing up with an alcoholic parent — the kind of narrative that sneaks up on you and hits harder than you expect. The chalk-drawn environmental puzzles and impossibly shifting architecture have a genuine childlike wonder to them, and watching Monster transform from a loveable companion into something terrifying when he eats those poisonous frogs is the kind of gameplay-as-metaphor that few games pull off this effectively. The puzzles are on the easier side and the game is only about 3-4 hours long, but it never overstays its welcome, and the ending left me sitting quietly for a moment before I could move on. If you've ever loved someone struggling with addiction and felt powerless to help, this one will resonate deeply — I'd call it less a game and more a piece of interactive therapy. Highly recommended, especially on sale.