While I can’t say that I’ve ever really been a fan, I’m well aware that there’s a segment of gamers out there who, for some reason, enjoy the desire to pull out their own hair with frustration when playing games. Whether it’s older examples like QWOP or more modern ones like aggravating tower climbers and the like, if you want to be pushed to the limits in terms of your precision and patience there are titles out there happy to provide just that.

What I can’t say I’ve seen to this point though is a game in that hyper-challenging vein that can be played with a friend as well, something the appropriately-named Paddle Paddle Paddle provides as an option. What will you be doing in it? Why, paddling, of course. If you were just going to take a leisurely ride around a lake it wouldn’t make for much fun though, so instead you’ll be tasked with navigating challenging courses that will require some careful and precise steering. Given that the only controls are the ability to paddle on either side of the boat, that means that you’ll also need to do some serious coordination if you’re going to tackle it with a friend. Since I wasn’t ready to make my wife’s head explode, I instead tackled it solo, and honestly even as hard as that is I would imagine it’s more realistically the best chance you’ll have to enjoy the game. It doesn’t take long before you’re required to move through some pretty tight spaces, with the best option to literally paddle on both sides simultaneously, propelling the boat forward without leading to either side. I’m sure people who are in synch and both have a fair sense of rhythm could perhaps do this effectively, but lacking that I would imagine there’ll be nothing but teeth gnashing and yelling pretty quickly. In my mind, for the vast majority of people this isn’t intended to be a game you’ll beat so much as, at best, simply survive. 

On a technical level, given the game’s simplicity, I don’t have too many thoughts. Outside of wishing there could be just a little more room for nuance, the game works the way it works, and you’ll just need to live with that. For unrealistic things like needing to navigate a turning line of water, moving from one area to another, I will admit though that my brain was a bit confused by the physics of how things worked, effectively treating the water like a frictionless surface, so perhaps there are things that simply must be accepted as well as endured. Though it’s exceptionally niche, I’ll give it credit for seemingly being implemented as it was intended.