The Adventure Pals is a recently released game about a young boy’s ruined birthday party. As it turns out, your father has been kidnapped (or dad-napped, I suppose) by the off-bear Mr. B., and now you, your pet rock, and a giraffe will band together to find him.
In this absurdist action-adventure platformer, saving the day is all about mastering your special abilities and succeeding in head-to-head combat. You have a sword and some bombs that will mitigate enemies as you soar through hand-crafted arenas and participate in quests to acquire pivotal items. There are five distinct in-game worlds to explore, and various opportunities to level-up through the role-playing system. Players are guided in their journey to salvage their father from being turned into a hot dog, according to Mr. B.’s testimony, by a friendly giraffe named Sparkles. She contains a helicopter-like tongue that can be utilized to distance enemies or perform combos, and an agile body that can aid the player in jumping away from danger or to another platform. Your pet rock, Mr. Rock, also contains some abilities that may not be evident at first, but are realized later on during your playthrough.
Paired with vibrant colors and a cartoon aesthetic, The Adventure Pals can be enjoyed as a singleplayer experience, or as a co-op game. The worlds are bouncing with enemies, so there can never be enough stabbing, rock-smashing, or health boosts to come by. The developers over at Massive Monster state that the gameplay is simplistic and easy to master initially, but slowly begins to ramp up in difficulty. If this light-hearted silliness piques your interest, you can pick it up on Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch now.