Papo & Yo is a rare game that manages to perfectly represent what it is like to be a child and the effects of substance abuse by those closest to them. This surprised me, because it is hard to tell a story with such complex themes under the guise of a game with any degree of success. Yet Papo & Yo handles it beautifully, and crafts an emotionally rewarding experience that deserves to be played. It certainly has its problems, but it manages to entertain and engage the player from beginning to end.Throughout Papo & Yo you play as Quico, a young boy who explores a dream like interpretation of Brazilian styled favelas. Throughout the game you are accompanied by three characters. The first is Lula, a cute yellow robot who hangs on to Quico’s back throughout the game, and serves to help him navigate and solve the puzzles that he encounters throughout his journey. There is also a girl who uses chalk to bring buildings and other objects in the environment to life, and more often than not plays tricks rather than help. These two characters are the ones that actively communicate to you.And then there’s Monster, a giant pink beast who grunts and roars as he eats and sleeps. Despite his outward frightful appearance, he is actually quite peaceful more often than not.Papo & Yo handles the complexities of addiction and abuse extremely well, never going into lengthy explanations or long, dialogue encumbered scenes in order to convey its themes. Instead, the game mostly relies on the actions of the characters and the change in environments and scenery in order to communicate, which is a very welcome change.Throughout Quico’s journey, he will encounter puzzles of varying length and complexity that obstruct his path. What is most amazing about Papo & Yo’s puzzles is that they involve the environment in rather stunning and wonderful ways.Turning a switch can result in a building gaining legs and moving to another position, pulling a lever could turn a building sideways to unveil a hidden set of stairs, and lifting a box can create and move giant crates that could be used at your disposal. The mechanics and feel of Papo & Yo also deserve praise. The jumping and navigating of the world feels natural, and I always enjoyed how Quico interacts with his environment. The favelas are simply stunning to navigate and explore. The locations feel like they have been lived in, but also are off just enough that you can tell that it is in an imaginative world. The sounds that the environment makes as you solve puzzles and move about are a delight to listen to, and credit must be given to whoever designed the ambient sounds found within the game.Papo & Yo is a unique game. It handles its themes extremely well, and the world is simply amazing to behold. Though the game is not without its faults, chief among them a lack of difficulty and challenge, Papo & Yo should be played at least once. Trust me, the journey will be quite worth it.

Moje česká recenze: http://www.playhit.cz/2014/11/papo-yo-utek-do-fantazie/

This game left me with my mouth hanging open, only able to make noises similar to "wow". Everybody, who has been cursed with an unreliable parent, will understand this game perfectly and remember it forever. It's an escape to a puzzle fanthasy world, where this boy Quico finds an answer to his unfair trouble. This game will give you more than just a few hours of fun. This is the case, where a game crosses the line and becomes art. 9/10

Empathy seems to be in short supply lately.

Though it’s now easier than ever to interact with others, between the endless deluge of vitriolic comments, coordinated harassment, seemingly spontaneous violence and the general lack of decency so often show to other human beings, it feels as if we’ve only become more disconnected as our methods of communication advance.

Papo & Yo is the rare game that asks for us to find the ability for greater understanding. Its design is subtle and meaningful, created in an attempt to tell nuanced human story but without the intention of forcing its meaning upon you. It’s an exploration of our capacity to love someone trapped and tormented by their inner demons, and how sometimes the ability to help them is beyond our ability.

Much of Papo & Yo is surreal and impossible, with walking houses and magic chalk lines allowing its themes to come across less overtly. Playing as the young Brazillian, Quico, the world takes on a sort of childlike wonder, delightfully playful and unconcerned with any greater troubles that might exist within it. Running around picking up frogs and reading the crayon drawn insides of cardboard boxes, I was struck by how humbly the game presents itself. It doesn’t attempt more than it knows it’s capable of, but at the same time has something important to say and wants to make sure it says it right.

One of the ways developer Minority Media achieves this, is how it presents its other main character, Monster. It’s a giant horned creature, but what’s important about it is it’s never framed as the antagonist. When you first meet Monster he’s just a big sleepy companion, who runs around with its tongue hanging out as you lead it around with the help of a mellon. These early moments help to develop the bond between Quico and Monster, as they help each other through levels and Quico shows a very clear fondness for his hulking friend.

Monster’s love of poisonous frogs however, turns him into something to fear. As he ravishly gobbles them up, his actions become violent and his appearance demonic. What was once your friend becomes an unstable brute, and in this feeling of helpless terror Papo & Yo strives to give you a glimpse at the horror of being a child surrounded by abuse. I wanted to help Monster, but any attempt to do so only lead to him taking out his aggression on me. It made me feel small and powerless to do anything but flee, and distressed that there seemed no solution to Monster’s addiction.

Papo & Yo might not be the most polished game, and its puzzle design is rife with unnecessary backtracking and tedious solutions, but it’s overshadowed by what the game represents and is trying to convey to the player. With much of the narrative being autobiographical, it makes it all the more raw and haunting to watch Quico and Monster be torn apart from each other. It’s a complicated story told with uncomplicated methods, deriving empathy through gameplay more than dialogue. From the start of the game, Minority Media seem prepared to not overly simplify the story they want to tell or to take the reassuring route with a clean cut happy ending. I’m finding it hard to completely reconcile my feelings over how everything wrapped up, but if nothing else I feel I comprehend at least a little more what those going through the sort of experiences displayed here are feeling. And that’s something we could all stand to do more often.

I don't know, but i think this game should have a "horror" tag!
Every time monster runs after me i pause!! HOLY SHIIT!!!!

10\10, amazing story <3

A beautiful Platformer with such a matured theme very delicately handled, Kudos to the Developer! for an gaming art which portrays one of the spiteful facts of this miserable world.

Nice smothly game with nice puzzles and graphics :3
You can finish the whole story game twice in 10 hrs or less
it depinds on your gameplay.
10-10 from me , sorry i left it for a months ago and it deserves to play it again :)

Papo & Yo is one of those titles that proves videogames are an art form. With heavy handed themes and light puzzle solving mechanics, this game speaks volumes to the artistic expression the creator was trying to convey. You can't say too much about it without spoiling the narratives intent. Play it!

8/10 Lulas!

Papo & Yo is a 3rd person 3D puzzle platformer game, it's short game (~3 hours) with an unfolding story of a boy's journey and his conflict with the "monster". Graphics and music are beautiful and overall the game has a lot of charm.

I'm struggling to find words that will encourage you to play this "game". It is a wonderful story-driven platform-esque adventure game.
There's that word again...game.

For most people, that would be the end of it. Beautiful music, fantastic atmosphere, interesting characters and intriguing puzzles. 10 out of 10.

For people like me, it's an 11.

For me, this became less a game, and more of a therapy session.

When you discover the nature of the story, there will be a divisive point. Luckily, you will enjoy the game either way. Some people will be emotionally struck. Thankfully, in a very healthy way, in my humble opinion.

Experiences like this transcend the medium. They elevate it, and should be understood for more than just entertainment value, but a conduit for healing, and understanding.

That is all I can say.

Buy this game and experience the feels! So pretty. So empowering. So sad.
It's short but definitely worth it.
Platforming is good, puzzles are easy but entertaining, and the music and artwork is just amazing.

What are you waiting for, go play Papo & Yo!

Pleasantly surprised. I love the way the kid's imagination is used to introduce game elements and portray a very sad story. Solid gameplay mechanics with enough variation throughout, and the music is very good as well. It's a looker too, I found the game is more beautiful than portrayed in the trailer.

If you like puzzle platformers and love a good story that is mostly told using mechanics, not words, then I can safely say you will enjoy this game.

A good platform game reminiscent of 3D classics from the genre (Rayman, the first Jak and Daxter, Banjo series, and the list would go on forever) with a surreal and imaginative twist.

One thing I noticed is that this game is very gameplay-heavy with a linear and puzzle-driven progression that leaves little space for exploration and indeed the story, which is most of the time assumed until the later sections of the game. I'm sure it will leave an impact in those who can share a similar story, without spoiling too much, and for the most part it's well executed and directed. A couple of scenes in particular can be breathtaking, leaving you to contemplate the artsy visuals in the midst of this surreal world.

The soundtrack is what I consider to be the highlight of this experience and it's exactly how I imagined this game to sound like, nothing more nothing less. It's simply brilliant and it does capture the world like only a few other games manage to accomplish through sound alone. It's comparable to titles such as Machinarium.

It does, however, come with a few drawbacks that may or may not ruin your experience. Some of the later puzzles can be a little frustrating to clear, not because their execution per se is particularly demanding, but the logic behind such puzzles require you to go through massive amounts of trial-and-error and solutions that up until that point become quite "exotic". The camera is sometimes a little annoying to manage, especially during timed puzzles where you're supposed to constantly monitor your character or else you'd fail and start over again.

Despite that, I think it's still an enjoyable experience and it's worth its relatively short length. If puzzle-platformers aren't your thing, then simply skip this game and enjoy something else.

A boy and his monster,

+ Handles difficult subject matter wonderfully
+ Filled with magical, empowering moments
+ Quico has no control over his chaotic home life, but his imagination lets him escape and feel empowered.
+ There's no penalty for getting caught, but you still understand and empathize with Quico's fear of Monster.
+ 10 Achievements
+ Steam Cloud

- Puzzles are too easy to be rewarding

You don't have to be a child to be enchanted by Papo & Yo. Even adults need to see the world through a child's eyes once in a while.

Papo & Yo is a 3D puzzle platformer adventure, in which you are a boy running after a girl, avoiding a monster while using it to solve puzzles, and playing with your robot toy. You use platforming to reach various stuff in the environment to change the the world around you to progress. Well, on one plane. On another plane, and this is made clear right before the game proper starts, this is a game about overcoming a drunk abusive father. Papo & Yo's story isn't the best, but it has a reasonably well put together theme and a very strong subject matter. There were a few story elements that felt somewhat jarring, taking you out of the immersion. For example, the tone of the girl changes dramatically and unexpectedly at times.

It's puzzles are on the easy side, all difficulty in this game comes from either finding the things you are to interact with or with your 3D platforming skills, sometimes together with a timed element in the puzzle. Some times, it's hard to judge the distance to items and when using the robot overshoot. The platforming control does feel well implemented and I did not encounter any situations where I had managed to block progress by going somewhere I was not supposed to and with no recovery options.

Graphically, it's a nice looking game with a very consistent style to it. Textures and effects aren't the very best, but on the other hand, that's not really to be expected from a game like this. It does some world building through the environment, but over all, it is a very linear world that does not present mane chances for exploration outside of your immediate puzzle surroundings.

Game world isn't the largest, and the game doesn't take more than maybe 4-6 hours to complete if played with no prior knowledge, but for what it provides for the price, it is a solid and well designed game.

This past couple oyf years has seen the release of a bunch of games dealing with a lot of real life issues, like alcoholism, physical abuse, death of a loved one etc... This is one of those, is a not very difficult puzzle game, with some platforming, and in this regard if you find yourself stuck most probably is because you are overthinking it, is a nice looking game, not astonishing but it looks good, the soundtraack is pretty good in my opinion, is short as most of this games are but it´s worth its price. the game has certain issues with the camera in some parts , specially when the monster chases you and in that regard i wouldn´t have mind and FOV slider (the deffault is 90 wich is good enough but i like something like 105 usually)

the core of the history goes around and alcoholic and abusive father and how the protagonist deals with it, to be honest it lacks the punch of something like brothers but is a moving one nonetheless. Overall a good way to spend three to four hours, it has a checkpoint save system but it doesn´t take much time to get to the next one and you can play it in one sitting or chapter to chapter.

So if you are into this kind of experiences is a game you should check out

Every now and then I find a game that is entirely mediocre in every way, and I have a hard time with my overall recommendation of it. Papo & Yo fits squarely into this category – it’s never bad, but it’s never more than simply okay either.

For positives, I can easily say that Papo & Yo is a very pleasing game, visually. You spend the majority of your game time in a favela in Brazil, solving Alice in Wonderland-esque puzzles with floating platforms and clever mechanics which change your landscape in interesting ways. It doesn’t take very long to progress through, and feels mostly tight with controls and camera movements.

However, there seems to be just a layer of polish in all aspects that prevents this game from being better than average. The animations are choppy, and some game mechanics, such as jumping puzzles, may not feel as accurate as other platforming games.

The story is my main dividing point. Although the narrative is essentially a very dark memoir, everything that you really need to know about the tale is shown to you up front. When the curtains are pulled back for a big reveal, you are basically shown what you’ve known since booting up the game – the monster is your father, and the poisonous frogs that put him into an uncontrollable rage are bottles of alcohol. It almost seemed odd that they decided to spend so much time at the end of the game devoted to showing you this, as that is the outset of the game.

To be fair, Papo & Yo has its heart in the right place, it just could have used a little more time to shine up what’s already there. However, this game is entirely skippable. Not recommended, unless you can find it as part of a package deal or it’s on a steep sale.

I cried. 10/10

It usually is very rare for a game to invoke such strong emotions in a player. I had an idea about the story behind this game before I played it. While going through the game and solving the various puzzles, there was always an element of emotion present. Whether it was happiness, trust, sadness, terror, or needing and desperately hoping to be able to trust.

The graphics and gameplay were superb. Being to control the environment in ways I have never seen before was fascinating. The music blended perfectly.

I won't give anything away, but the ending was emotional and tied so many elements of the game together and pieced the puzzle. Playing it a second time will make you see the game in a different light.

In short, beautiful and powerful game. Play it.

Slay your daemons and find peace: this is what Papo & Yo is about, a journey through your memories and subconscious.
Great storyline, game and soundtrack - definitely recommended.

An interesting Indie platformer/adventure game with only a few minor things that set it back. I have to say it does remind me a lot of what Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons does in terms of story, conveying most of it through the gameplay and what you see rather than dialog, but this game does have dialog occasionally so its a little more clear sometimes what is going on. Even then though this game isn't what it seems like at first, without ruining it you will find out what the real theme is about and the metaphor for the monster as you go through.

You play as a kid, Quinco who comes across at one point a big monster, who has an unhealthy appitite for poison arrow frogs and a very bad temper; he eventually becomes your companion on the story as well as your little robot protector Lula. You are following a strange girl who claims you are "cursed" and are on a journey to find out what is going on, and where you really are. Through out you need to platform and solve puzzles to progress through the areas of the game, many revolving around the monster himself. There are no real boss fights to speak of in the game.

The game has some pretty good looking visuals, nothing that is going to push your machine to its limits but its very nice and the world itself very interesting and somewhat surreal at times. The game also has some fantastic music in it to go along with the visuals and perfectly fits the tone of the game and what is going on.

The game controls fantastically with a controller and KB+M, however despite the game implying you to use a controller, I personally at least found it to play better and be more enjoyable with keyboard and mouse, so the port gets that right. In terms of perfromace there really isn't much to complain about, there are certain times where the frame rate will drop but quickly goes back.

The issues with the game unfortunatly come from the design itself: while it is part puzzle game, the puzzles themselves aren't very challenging and are very itterative and repetitve, on top of that the game is short, very very short. Four hours is the most you can expect out of it, that's on first playthrough, but given how linear it is on subsequent playthroughs and knowing what to do, you could get through it in under three potentially. There is little incentive to replay the game too, outside of 25 hats hidden around the game to find, of which unlocks upon beating the game the first time. Besides that there are no other kind of collectibles or distractions, the puzzles, gameplay and story are the only attraction here.

The story attempts to be emotional and moving, which it does pull off many times, but at the same time once you learn certain things it kind of falls apart and become predictable and that hold it has wears off, doesn't ruin the game though by any means.

Overall, its a short, very easy, but enjoyable adventure through an interesting world and is charming at the same time. Its definatly worth playing through at least once, maybe twice if you are interested in collecting all the hats and achivements, but I cannot say I would recommend it at full price, but consider that part at your own discretion. All that said I did enjoy this game and I do recommend checking it out. None of the minor issues I mentioned are enough I think to deter from this nice puzzle/platformer.