Puppet Punch Review

Puppets these days come in either whimsical or terrifying varieties. Puppet Punch tries to split the difference with its joyous kid protagonist and creepy knife-wielding enemies. But regardless of your opinions on puppets, punching the stuffing out of them never gets old.

It's hard to pin down Puppet Punch‘s exact genre. It's a bit like a scrolling shooter, but the player is a fixed point attacking enemies that come to them. It's like a game of Whac-a-Mole too, but the enemies are way more dynamic. Basically, evil puppets descend toward the player who punches them out of the sky.

To keep the game from becoming a mindless tap fest, although it occasionally does devolve into that, there are a few strategic considerations. Obviously it's best to deal with the most immediate threats – the closest puppets – but location also matters when prioritizing targets because your arms only have so much reach. Meanwhile, some puppets shoot projectiles and carry spiked shields, so timing your taps is crucial as well. All of these concepts come to a head against the giant, screen-filling bosses that take dozens of punches before going down.

Puppet Punch isn’t a particularly deep game, but it does require some thought and the delightful visuals will keep players invested as well. The splendid animated prologue shows how the main character rejects the shallow artifice of new-fangled video games for the old-world charm of puppets. During the game, the child's bubbly animation reflects his enthusiasm while the puppets sport a level of detail that would make their respective cultures proud. Although there are only a handful of enemy types, each round takes place in a different part of the world. That means players go from clobbering Punch and Judy in Europe to slugging Japanese Oni masks to beating up some Hindu demons. And the visuals do a great job of representing what made that art so special while still keeping the overall look cohesive.

Like the puppets it wants you to slaughter, Puppet Punch is a charming little game that's a lot more action-packed than you might expect. It's like Orson Welles' idea of puppetry.