When it comes to the budget end of the gaming spectrum, it isn’t unusual to see games with a singular hook try to stretch out the play time just enough to be satisfying. The challenge is, just because you have more levels or overall content for people to play through, that doesn’t necessarily equate to an improved experience. Pengilo sort of falls into that trap, featuring plenty of levels, but feeling very comfortable with its minimalist setup, and never doing much of interest with the idea.

The good news is that if you prefer simplicity, Pengilo has you covered. You’ll simply hold down the A button to effectively slow time and try to aim yourself towards your objectives. While you can choose to simply get to the exit, there are also 3 stars on each stage that sort of serve as bonus challenges, though more often than not they’re honestly not that much tougher to get to than anything else you need to focus on, they just take more time. The further you go, the more minor complications you’ll face, whether having to avoid traps, deal with platforms that can get in the way, or grab a key before going through a door.

For the most part this is all fine, but there were two things that felt like they could have helped boost the experience at least a little bit. The first is simply that you’re not afforded any nuance when it comes to power when you’re aiming in the direction you want to move next. Yes, this does add to the challenge I suppose in some regards, but if you provided players with a greater degree of control you could also then demand more from them, so this just feels like an odd thing to omit right out of the gate. My other complaint is that the rules for aiming and shooting yourself around aren’t made clear. Once you’ve hit some surface you’re free to take aim once more, and the slowdown while you fly through the air is critical to helping to make effective follow-up shots. Failing to help players understand this right away, I suppose relying on them discovering it for themselves, also simply feels sloppy and more likely to make the experience of the average person playing it vary unpredictably, depending on when they catch on. When there’s so little to a game like this, every decision and minor feature is critical to building value, so even those my concerns can seem trivial, to get people on board with something so basic every detail should be carefully considered.