Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Metroidvania, Action-Adventure, Top-Down, Pixel Art, 2D

Every once in a while, there comes an indie game that really signals the sign of its influence and time period, to the point where it really feels like a well thought-out tribute. Developer Pocket Trap, known for Dodgeball Academia and Ninjin: Clash of Carrots, did just that with its latest metroidvania title Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, a Game Boy Advance era-style title with a lovely look and aesthetic that hearkens back to that glorious age of gaming.

You play as a free-spirited Pippit as he helps his aunt of the Pipistrello Industries clan to restore her body by finding Mega Batteries from different adversaries hiding in different areas of New Jolt City.

Your weapon of choice in this escapade? A yoyo which your aunt’s spirit possesses, which lets you do all sorts of acrobatics and traversal tricks to get past the game’s meticulously crafted stages with their own themes. You’ll also have to go underground through sewer areas that connect to the places you need to go, each with their own puzzles to solve and enemy rooms where you have to kill all adversaries with your yoyo.

Walk The Dog

Thankfully, Pippit’s yoyo isn’t just a child’s toy: you can do mid-ranged attacks, use corners in the game’s levels to hit enemies and switches from hard-to-reach spots, ride on your yoyo to go over water & lava hazards, throw your yoyo to reach very far switches, have your yoyo float onto pits so you can use it as a makeshift grapple point, and even ride on walls. Hell, you can even parry bullets and enemy attacks as one of your earlier moves, making no-hit runs possible for hardcore players. Like any search action game worth its salt, you unlock these sweet moves bit by bit, and pretty soon you’ll feel like a traversal yoyo-swinging badass. Though not too overpowered, of course, as this is one challenging top-down adventure.

Part of why Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo will kick your ass now and again is its old-school challenge and controls. On the game’s default setting, enemies can be relentless with their attacks (bullet hell attacks, shields, every 90s attack the devs could muster) and even take more hits than usual unless you spend the time unlocking Pippit’s power-ups and extra special moves (via funny comic book-related segments and incredibly challenging puzzle hotspots). Controls-wise, Pippit can only attack in four main directions: up, down, left, right. There are no diagonal attacks, meaning half the challenge is positioning yourself right to hit enemies while not getting overwhelmed yourself. At the very least, your jump button is a handy dodging tool against all the 2D pixelated odds.

The game’s method of gaining certain powerups is unique: you need to set up a contract with one of your bat cousins with a set amount of debt and debuffs (like less health, or less attack power, or even both). Collecting enough money to pay off the debt means you get the new skill and all debuffs taken off. Are they worth it? Yes, as they allow you to deal more damage when you’re at critical health, make you hit harder in general and power up some of your special attacks, and give you Badge Points (BP) that let you equip bigger and better equipment called Badges that can significantly alter your playstyle, or just give you helpful abilities like seeing enemy health, more damage while airborne, and having your yoyo string on fire for added damage-per-second potential.

And the bosses, while not as many compared to other tribute games of this scale, are still a handful and require a few deaths from your end to get the hang of their patterns and exploit their weaknesses. They’re really fun to go through though. My favourite segments include a football match where you have to deal with an entire team to score points (since you’re going solo), duel a cosplayer who fights like Link from the Zelda series, parrying hails of bullets from enemies in rooms with a messload of corners, and a timed sequence at the tail end of the title which gives the chase sequences in Super Metroid a run for its money. Fans of metroidvanias, action platformer-style titles, and 2000s Game Boy Advance arcade-level fare will find a lot to love here in this game’s many creative and challenging gauntlets of platforming and yoyo obstacle courses.

If you find the default game challenging and punishing (especially when you lose so many coins when dying multiple times), you can tweak the difficulty options to your liking. I rather not as it dilutes the 2D action experience from yon 2000s period, but at least you can tone it down if that’s not your bag, or if you just feel overwhelmed. If anything, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is fair, difficult, and accommodating. Its overall narrative is also not too heavy-handed, with the focal point being Pippit and his aunt’s industrial empire, and the fallout when she’s not in charge. Characters here aren’t black and white, but it doesn’t talk down to its audience with its message of two different extremes of control.

Breakaway

I’m all for indie games, especially when they’re tailored for a particular period as big as the Game Boy Advance age. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a love letter to that period in gaming history, and is also a lovely 2D search action experience that can stand on its own two legs (and yoyo walking the dog antics). Best of all, it knows its audience enough that they let them either go through the challenges in its pure state, or let them tweak the difficulty to their liking especially if they can’t commit. While the customizable difficulty may bring back sore argument points that made games like Doom: The Dark Ages a divisive title, we have to remember that some folks who grew up during the 90s leading up to the 2000s may not have time in real life to really commit.

Still, this doesn’t change the fact that Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a well-made and hard-hitting metroidvania that hits all the right notes and sticks the landing with its proverbial yoyo shenanigans.

With lovely graphics & sound from legendary composer Yoko Shimomura (catchy tracks and all), a cute plot concerning gentrification of all topics in a landscape of anthropomorphic beings, and fun-yet-challenging metroidvania action using your yoyo and other related antics, file this title under the dark horse category of standout indie games of 2025.

Pros

• Amazing 2D aesthetics & lovely music from Yoko Shimomura
• Well-designed dungeons, puzzles, & boss fights.
• Vast city to explore in with tons of lovely secrets.
• Innovative power-up debt system that also tests your skills & dedication.
• Nifty skills and Badge system to power up Pippit and your playstyle(s).

Cons

• Gets bats*** tough at the last third (though expected).
• Difficulty options might dilute challenge for some.

Final Score: 90/100

Review code provided by publisher.