Capsule Review: Potatoman Seeks the Troof
A short (though duration will vary considerably with skill) masocore 2D platformer with Atari 2600-inspired pixel art. Progress through five areas and overcome deadly obstacles in your search for the Troof. Whatever that is.
Some obstacles are deadly due to their unpredictable nature and are clearly intended to take you by surprise, though if you have fast enough reflexes and proceed with caution you can survive many of these even the first time you encounter them. Other obstacles are more straightforward but require precision timing and positioning. Death generally doesn’t put you too far back unless you run out of the limited number of lives you have per area, in which case you must restart the area.
There’s a bit of story - you play as a humanoid potato and NPCs make cryptic and sometimes ominous comments about the nature of the Troof. It mostly seems to be window dressing to provide motivation to persist through the challenges, but the ending does provide some closure.
For masocore fans, this is likely an entertaining diversion - it probably won’t take more than an hour and it’s possible to beat in as little as five minutes or so once mastered. Others may be intrigued by its unusual and somewhat charming atmosphere but put off by its difficulty, especially in later areas - the number of precision-requiring obstacles increases as you go.
I Stopped Playing When: I got about halfway through the fourth area before frustration overtook me. The previous areas had surprising and somewhat interesting challenges, but the ones in the fourth area were mostly just difficult. I assumed the trend would continue, so once I ran out of lives and got sent back to the area’s beginning I gave up and watched the ending on YouTube. From what I saw, the fifth area actually was interesting again, though.
One Star: Not for me. While there might be someone out there who'd enjoy this game, I was actively repulsed by it or just found nothing to latch on to.