Warning: There are spoilers for the video game Pico Park. Please proceed with caution.
Over the course of the pandemic, my friends and I have shifted from in person hangouts to hosting virtual game nights on Discord, playing fun co-op games like Among Us and Jackbox. So, when it came to planning what we were going to do over our winter break, my best friend first mentioned that we should play Pico Park. I was really confused at first, as I hadn’t heard of the game before, but she explained that it was a co-op game with fun puzzles and required teamwork. We all agreed to get the game to try it, but I had no idea what was entailed in this short but fun cooperative game.
Now if you’re as clueless as I was, I’ll offer a brief (and hopefully not too spoiled) explanation of it: In Pico Park, you can have up to 8 players that have to work together to solve various puzzles that change with each ‘world’, similar to playing a Super Mario game. There are twelve different ‘worlds’, which each consist of four levels that follow some sort of theme. They can be as easy as pushing a platform together, while others require timing jumps properly which can leave you stuck on a level for 20 minutes! Though the levels can seem a bit too easy at first, it’s the cooperation part that can make things challenging, as everyone has their own idea of how to pass each level.
There are twelve different ‘worlds’, which each consist of four levels that follow some sort of theme.
Right away when you start in the first world, you have to work together to move some platforms to pick up a key. Surprisingly even this area can be tricky, as you need both people to be pushing the platforms in order to grab the key. Then, one person has to jump on top of the other player’s head to jump and grab the key. Even this can take coordination if each player isn’t careful where they’re jumping. Once you grab the key, both players can run to the door and unlock it, thus completing the level. Now the first world starts off easy with just pushing platforms around, but as I mentioned earlier, later levels require accurately timed jumps as well as working together with other players to climb a platform or to move one.
Now, the game supports anywhere from 2 to 8 players, and if you don’t have a full lobby, the levels will adjust themselves to your party size. In my case, we had 6-7 people playing, and it didn’t feel like we needed any extra help (we barely could coordinate ourselves!). In addition to the madness of cooperation, we had some players asserting themselves in a leader role, trying to direct people on how to solve each puzzle, or we had people like me who would sometimes throw their hands in the air and send their character flying into the abyss.
Though there are 48 levels to get through, the game can go pretty quickly if you can get your group to work together and it’s a great game to bring everyone together virtually. If you still want more action past the levels, there are other modes to play as well: there’s endless mode which is great if you just want to enjoy some more time with your friends-soon-to-be-enemies. Next there’s battle mode, which allows you to face off against your friends and win best out of three minigames.
If this sounds like a game you’d like to try at your next virtual game night, then you can find it here on Steam, and the great news is that it’s only $4.99 to play. I hope you enjoy playing it with your own friends, and try not to get too mad at your friends if you’re stuck on the same level for twenty minutes.