Pop-Up Pilgrims (PlayStation 4) Review

Why is Pop-Up Pilgrims in virtual reality? Other than the neat visual gimmick of being inside of what can be best described as a pop-up book, this game feels more like a casual mobile or iOS release. After the start screen, and the initial disappointment that this is going to be borderline browser-tier, the game begins with a convoluted control scheme and no explanation. There is surprising amount of trial and error early on for an extremely casual game due to a very lacking tutorial. Maybe after 10 to 20 minutes players may finally realise that Pop-Up Pilgrims is a Lemmings clone with some minor physics-based sling-shotting.

Pop-Up Pilgrims's gameplay consists of guiding hapless villagers to a goal as they automatically run. The core mechanic is to launch them and to get them to different planes in the foreground and background. Along the way, users must also collect baubles to score a par in order pass the stage. As if completing the stage wasn't enough, the designers insist on padding out the action with this arbitrary task. While playing, the most thought put in will be trying to figure out how to score the lowest passing par to move on because of how dull and boring the gameplay is. This feels like it should be a budget 3DS eShop titles, not a PSVR product. Playing this on a 3DS would make the feedback feel more natural since this is not played in the first-person at all and would make the generic pop-up art come to life in a more meaningful way.

In all fairness, Pop-Up Pilgrims is not necessarily bad or poorly made, just agonisingly boring and forgettable. If this was one iOS with a touch screen, it would make sense for kids to enjoy... but it is one a VR system and most children shouldn't, or won't, be using an expensive or nauseating headset. It doesn't take long to feel like that there are better games to be playing or that Pop-Up Pilgrims makes one consider their life choices. People who play this will be looking into an abyss and realise life's bigger picture: that everyone is average, no one is special, and that at the end of the tunnel is death's sweet warm embrace.