Wasting no time, this gooey fusion of a visual novel and a rhythm action game explains its premise in the first few seconds of play. You’re cast as the young witch Claire, who enters the Doggie Underworld in search of her missing prized pooch. There’s no drawn-out opening cut-scene or backstory-expanding prologue; Claire makes her first appearance at the gates of this ghostly dimension before blurting out her intentions to the first person she meets. That just so happens to be a demon called Luanne, who’s happy to tag along. A no-nonsense opening for an increasingly nonsensical experience.
It also sets the pace well, with Puppergeist only asking for around two hours of your time — something the £4.99 price tag accommodates.
While you have control over Claire, movement is limited to strolling left and right, keeping things linear and focused — albeit at the cost of removing any scope for exploration. The idea is to traverse the gloomy underworld, stopping to talk to the spirits of other lost pups before playing a rhythm-based mini-game. These play similarly to those found in Nintendo’s Rhythm Paradise Groove, based around such pursuits as stroking a friendly pup, playing tug of war, catching mice, shooting wooden ducks, and giving a grubby pup a makeover. They last 1-2 minutes each and only ever use a single button.
While this may seem like a rudimentary set-up, each mini-game has a different groove to get into, requiring a perfect sense of timing. It’s recommended that you play the tutorial for each mini-game to learn cues. In fact, it’s vital — without an explanation, you’re likely going to be left randomly jabbing the A button and leaving Claire reeling from your poor sense of rhythm.
Reoccuring themes include tapping the A button in tune with a beat, within a split second of a dog barking, and alongside something appearing on screen. Later, fast and slow sections come into play, along with the occasional trick to catch you out. Successful button presses result in a chiming sound, with all other prompts being visual, such as Claire beaming with glee or wincing with shame. A good mixture of music genres features, from a comical karaoke scene with warbled barking noises to a heavier electric guitar riff.
At the end of a mini-game, you’re shown a ranking, with Good Dog being the passing grade, Top Dog awarded for a perfect run, Woof requiring a retry. A counter showing how many “perfects” or “misses” were achieved is oddly absent, although you’ll soon learn that in most mini-games, only a handful of beats can be missed. This results in the predicament of a mini-game continuing to the end even after you’ve royally messed it up the beginning. It isn’t as if you can recover from your failures like in Guitar Hero, which is easily Puppergeist’s biggest flaw.
The cartoony visuals hold a lot of appeal and, for the most part, are smoothly animated. Lots of different portraits are used during dialogue scenes, which last around a minute each, and there’s a gallery that gradually fills with cut-scene stills. There isn’t much in the way of extras beyond this, though, with the only reason to return being to gain a Top Dog ranking across the board — and peculiarly, that’s something not incentivised or even encouraged.
Puppergeist provides a short story to enjoy that, while heartfelt, could have benefited from a more distinct middle to match its somewhat more dramatic beginning and end. Through its swift succession of daft mini-games to perfect, and presentation that’s a clear cut above other games in the £4.99 price bracket, it’s still able to provide a fun yet fleeting experience. To ask anything more from it would be to expect too much; it achieves what it sets out to do and never “strays” beyond that. Younger gamers looking to sharpen their sense of rhythm will likely get the most out of it, but you’d be wise not to underestimate its general difficulty either, as a couple of mini-games will gladly chew you up.
Serenity Forge’s Puppergeist is out now on Xbox Series, Switch and PC.