Teeto review

As publishers continue chasing sprawling open worlds, live-service action, and cinematic spectacle, it can be easy to forget just how satisfying a well-crafted 3D collectathon can be. After a long workday, few things are more cathartic than a colorful world, a couple of clever mechanics, and gathering a couple hundred scattered items.

Fortunately, Eat Pant Games’ Teeto understands this appeal more than many of its platforming peers. Rather than trying to innovate, the title gathers an array of familiar mechanics that range from Kirby-style ability absorbing, ninja-hopping between walls, and floating over wide chasms. The result is an adventure that recalls late ‘90s mascot-driven titles, while still feeling thoroughly modern. It is also ideal for those who favor energetic charms over raw excursion.

Blob and Bunny on a Mission

Fittingly, Teeto’s premise is refreshingly uncomplicated. After humanity’s disappearance, shadow creatures are spreading corruption across the world. In response, an inventive bunny named Nory creates a cheerful blob named Teeto to restore balance. Sure, the exposition mainly exists to push you into the next biome. But the genre’s best entries habitually favor personality over plot (and I would not have it any other way!)

Pleasingly, developer Eat Pant Games delivers an abundance of personality. Many NPCs deliver oddball lines that give the post-human world some eccentricity. Conversations rarely linger, instead you’re treated to some wacky or even stream-of-conscious observations. One particularly memorable character zealously mangles the lyrics to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” transforming a familiar tune into an absurd running gag.

Moments like these capture that distinctly New Zealand sense of humor. It’s dry, understated, offbeat wit, but amazingly fun and perpetually good natured. And this is what gives Teeto its unique identity, with writing that never tries too hard to be hilarious. Yes, it might be sacrilegious to say this, but Teeto got more laughs out of me than any of Banjo-Kazooie’s silliness.

Become One with the Environment

Complementing that charm is Teeto’s core mechanic: transformation. Rather than accumulating permanent upgrades, Teeto absorbs nearby objects and can adopt some of their properties. A stone grants crushing weight, flowers provide the ability to vine-grapple, while a bush can be used as camouflage. Often, the transformations aren’t just for navigational purposes. They often used to solve light puzzles. Nicely, new abilities arrive at a comfortable rate, giving you enough time to understand their potential before layering in the next one. Best all, each new capability doesn’t change your controls. That approach always seems to trip me up.

That said, some might argue that Teeto occasionally errs on the side of convenience and even ease. The object required to solve most puzzles is usually located nearby, meaning that you’ll rarely squander your time wondering whether you overlooked an important ability somewhere across the stage. And there’s probably less environmental deduction than veterans of older collectathons might expect.

More Found. Less Lost

Oddly enough, I think those attributes are a strength. Some classic mascot platformers occasionally mistook confusion or getting lost for longevity. Largely, Teeto trims away that frustration. Solutions are satisfying because you are still identifying how abilities interact with the environment rather than trying to remember where you last saw an electrical socket. Yes, this kind of streamlining sacrifices a bit of complexity, but it also doesn’t have those bouts of frustration.

Responsive controls are an essential element of any respectable platformer, and Teeto delivers. Running, jumping, attacking, and gliding all feel intuitive. Pleasantly, jumps don’t usually require pin-point precision with Teeto pulling himself up when you land on a ledge. I appreciate that kind of lenient approach, since it encourages rather than punishes exploration.

Naturally, the game’s environments are filled with an abundance of gatherable items, from hidden vionites, collectable “Baby Michaels” stars. Despite rewarding a bit of vigilant observation, the six levels in each of the four worlds are impressively readable. Here, distinct landmarks keep assets from blending in a blur, solving the problem of wandering through digital-liminal spaces.

A Punch or Two Between Platforms

Interestingly, combat takes a backseat to exploration. Shadow enemies offer just enough resistance to break up the navigation, with brief encounters that are smart enough to not break up the flow. That said, if you appreciate a bit of spiciness in your traversal or adversarial challenges, Teeto might be a bit bland.

Visually, the game embraces exaggerated animation and vibrant colors that ground the game’s playful tone. Smartly, Eat Pant Games adopts a low-spec approach, allowing meager PCs like the Steam Deck to deliver dependable sixty-frame-per-second play. Opting for character animation rather than elaborate backdrops to be the focal point was a smart decision, delivering a combo of personality and performance.

Maintaining the Momentum

Teeto understands the value in maintaining momentum. Instead of repeatedly stopping players to provide some plot or making them learn elaborate new mechanic, the game keeps them moving, discovering, smiling, and yes, collecting. And that’s exactly the kind of rhythm a collectathon should be striving for.

At a time when so many triple-A games are flirting with bloat, Teeto succeeds by remembering why we fell in love with 3D platformers in the first place. It offers creatively designed world, sinuous movement, clever transformations, and enough hidden surprises to reward the most ravenous sense of curiosity. Sure, Teeto might not redefine the platformer, but it certainly reminds us why the genre deserves to thrive.

Teeto was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.