[Nintendo Switch] The Adventures of Poppe Review

The Adventures of Poppe from RedDeerGames and Shiny Byte Studio is an old-school style 2D action platformer on Nintendo Switch. Check out our The Adventures of Poppe review!

The Adventures of Poppe from RedDeerGames and Shiny Byte Studio is an old-school style 2D platformer on Nintendo Switch. You play as the titular character, who is a tiny brave hunter with a heart of gold. Poppe is the size of an ant! That means that for him, even the smallest of creatures can pose a huge threat. You’ll need to make the most of Poppe’s abilities to save the day.

What will you find in the game? Worms, spiders, and flies will be some of the enemies you’ll run into. The good news is that not all creatures are out to get you. Sometimes you might need to hop on the back of a dragonfly and use it as a floating platform of sorts to progress further. Pay attention to an enemy’s movement and attack patterns so that you can avoid unnecessary injuries because every hit counts in The Adventures of Poppe.

You’ll control Poppe with the left analog stick or the D-Pad as he jumps with the B button, attacks with the Y button, and uses an ability with the A button. Poppe’s inventory can be opened with the X button. Once there, you can check what items you’ve managed to collect to continue with your journey, such as a piece of wood that can be used as a platform to cross a long gap, a match that can set an obstacle on fire, or a boot that a friendly centipede lost. Press down to make Poppe crawl so that he fits through tight spaces.

To collect healing items, extra lives, and power-ups, you’ll need to walk up to them and then press up on the left analog stick or the D-Pad. There are power-ups and upgrades to collect along the way to gain access to new abilities and enhance those you’ve already got. Pay attention to each area so that you can collect as many upgrades as possible. You should also keep an eye out for any fake walls along the way.

You’re taught about this early in the game when you spot a heart inside of a wall. If you slowly crawl near the lower wall, you’ll be able to reach the heart. Collect it, and your hit points will increase! Spotted a power-up that looks like a fist? That one will increase Poppe’s attack power so that he can defeat enemies with fewer hits. Since losing all of your hearts will lead to losing a life, collecting healing items and extra lives will allow you to extend your run.

Coming into contact with an enemy or one of their attacks will make you lose one of your hearts. Falling from a great height will make you lose one of your hearts. As expected, once all of your hearts run out, you’ll lose a life. The good news is that the game offers a great autosave system that will save your progress every time you change screens, which means you’ll never be too far behind when you do respawn after being defeated. And since you can also gain extra lives by boosting up your score, you should defeat every enemy on your path!

If enemies are huge in comparison to Poppe’s size, you can imagine how bosses tower over him. The first boss you’ll find will be a massive spider that will shoot poison at you as it calls upon its smaller offspring to attack by dropping from the roof. It’s not going to be a taxing boss fight if you pay attention and attack during each window of opportunity, especially if you manage to collect the extra heart as well as the strength power-up to boost the power of your attacks. Every extra point of damage will go a long way during this adventure!

The Adventures of Poppe offers an old-school style 2D action platforming experience on Nintendo Switch. Given Poppe’s size, what to us are regular everyday objects can either help him progress further – such as using empty cans as platforms – or hinder his progress – you better avoid any rusty nails sticking out! One small issue you might run into during your time with the game is that your backpack inventory space is very limited, so you’ll have to use items in quick succession to be able to collect new ones that will allow you to progress further. Finding a key and not being able to bring it with you is certainly a bummer, but at least you’ll be able to drop another item right there and then so that you can collect what you need. The Adventures of Poppe is out on Nintendo Switch at a $19.99 asking price.

Disclaimer
This The Adventures of Poppe is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by RedDeerGames.