In the budget indie arena, you can get all sorts of minimalist approaches to creating an engaging experience. Sometimes they can have just enough of a hook that they can give you a few hours of enjoyment, even if in short bursts, but many times they don’t quite work out. In the case of Pogo Stick Champion I’m weighing in on it being the latter.

The concept here is enormously simple. You’ll need to navigate between platforms while avoiding spikes, walls, or pretty well any surface you’re not going to use your pogo on in order to reach the goal area. One advantage here is that at least you just need to go through that space, there’s no need for any sort of grace or landing in some way, but it’s a small consolation. Your only means of control is to quickly attempt to alter the angle you’re going to land at, which will then change your trajectory, hopefully moving you in the right direction.

The problem, at least in my mind, is that the concept is so simplistic that there’s not really any room for it to grow. Every stage really just ends up being a variation on the last you faced, even if more challenging in some way, but since there’s no room for nuance, unless you really love the core experience a whole lot it’s pretty easy to get bored with it. Perhaps you could combat this issue by sticking to shorter play sessions, but in the end there’s just very little here to enjoy.