Psycutlery Review - Impractical, Useless, Absolutely Genius
The best piece of household utensil-based fiction, since ‘Kill La Kill’ made running with scissors into a Greek tragedy
Years ago, a friend of mine once said that a spork, an unholy fusion of spoon and fork, could only really be used as a torture device and for nothing else. Turns out, they were wrong. After years upon years of searching, I've found another use, the game 'Psycutlery', by solo developer Luke Tarlowe!
The game came to my attention when I randomly saw someone online mention it and call it the 'spiritual successor to Psycho Waluigi', which I remembered from my early teens as being an excellent amateur freeware game using assets from Super Mario games. Searching it up, it turned out that Psycutlery was made by the same person, and at that point, I was sold. Or rather - I wasn't. Tarlowe offers this passion project, a product of multiple years of unpaid solo work, on their Itch IO page 'Eyes in Everything', completely for free. A ZIP file download and an extract command later, and I was playing. (The game runs flawlessly on Windows 10 and the Linux-based Steam Deck console, by the way.)
Since I implore you to try the game yourself, I won't spoil any specific story beats or levels and only talk in broad strokes.
TL;DR: By embracing its own weirdness, this game about an alien girl in a frog costume, who throws around a spork with psychic powers, manages to be a constant joy.
THE GAMEPLAY is the distilled essence of video games. As a veteran of the 2D platformer genre, I had a glorious thirteen hours, collecting most hidden secrets and completing all levels. The game is tough but fair, and through the option to tweak the simple but clever health system, can be made as easy or hard as desired with minimal changes to the actual gameplay experience, which is an issue that even big-budget games with a whole suite of accessibility options struggle with. The core mechanics are as unique as they are easy to understand, and all throughout the game, new elements are sensibly introduced and explored for what they're worth. Apropos, rarely have I seen, even among the many amazingly innovative indie games of today, so many wonderfully creative ideas in one place, all of which are masterfully executed for maximum fun. Each level is unique and uses downright revolutionary ideas and spins on tropes, which had me saying "Ooh, this is so clever!" many times.
THE DIALOGUE, while a bit chatty, is written in a refreshingly self-aware and humorous style throughout, and all main characters are teeming with personality.
THE STORY, in a fashion that is atypical for this type of medium, gradually escalates its stakes, which makes the whole thing feel a bit like coming of age. Generally, the story plays with a lot of heartfelt themes and weaves them together well.
THE ART uses somewhat generic, yet distinct pixel art which is bound to evoke nostalgia for all manners of browser games in Gen Z kids like myself.
THE SCORE, composed primarily by Luke Tarlowe and Jonathan Verge, is a nice mix of typical video game tropes and a more distinct electro sound, and has plenty of what the cool kids call 'bangers'.
ALL IN ALL, in an industry that seems to have forgotten what video games really are, Psycutlery does things only a video game can do and is a shining example of what these are meant to be: Fun.
An amazingly fun romp through classical video game design, brimming with passion in every pixel.
10/10