Describing itself as the first “Yoyovania” is Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, a metroidvania where your main weapon is the titular Cursed Yoyo.
But how does a yoyo become cursed, and, more importantly, is Pipistrello a game that should be on your radar?
To answer the first question then, all you need is four crime bosses, a wealthy auntie, some unethical technology and four mega-batteries to power it up. On Pippit’s annual visit to his aunt’s mansion to ask for some more money, it is quickly apparent that something is not right. Your auntie is hiding in her office but as you arrive, four crime bosses from all over the city have teamed up to take her new, and questionable, power generation machine and use it on herself. Only Pippit has the genius idea to throw his yoyo into the emitted beam at the last moment. Whilst this doesn’t outright kill his auntie, it does place her soul into his yoyo. At this point you could call it a Cursed Yoyo.
And now you know.
Gravity Pull
To be fair, there is a fair amount of backstory to Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo. Pippit’s family has a monopoly on the energy market, but their new tech promises complete domination. It would, however, raise more than a few eyebrows if the tech was to ever be used. But now, the crime bosses have used it, whilst also storing the energy in their mega-batteries. The only way to free your auntie is to gather these four batteries back up and use the machine once again.
Navigating the mansion is a good tutorial for you to get to grips with using the yoyo for pretty much everything. Out in the city though, and it is a different ball game entirely. There are obstacles and dangers around almost every corner and in every new screen. Enemies are one thing, but environmental dangers need to be taken into account too. Pippit cannot swim, and even shallow puddles can cause your already minimal HP to deplete. And then there are the cars flying up and down the roads; they can (and probably will) damage you, but they can also be used to your advantage to clear screens of multiple enemies…
Good thing then that you can upgrade Pippit, and in a way that can suit your playstyle. There are new skills and attacks to find throughout the world, but you may need to be vigilant to find these.
Bind
There are also Contracts, which are a unique way of applying an upgrade tree. It’s fairly simple in practice; money you collect can be spent on upgrading and unlocking various abilities and buffs in your base. However, and there is a massive caveat here, Contracts work slightly differently. Entering into a Contract to unlock, say, an extra attack power, means you have to pay off the Contract before unlocking your chosen perk. And there comes a penalty whilst you are paying it off, such as reduced health or no healing items to drop from enemies.
Contracts can only be paid off with money you accrue after entering into it. So, even if you have enough bank, that cannot be used to pay it off early. The upgrades are worth it ultimately, but it really does open up the possibility of completing the game without any upgrades as a viable solution. And, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see an achievement related to just that fact.
Around the World
There is an undeniable charm to Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo. It’s in the artstyle, the back and forth between Pippit and his auntie, other character interactions and the design of the world as well. It is dense, detailed, and packed with extras and hidden bonuses to discover. One minute you could be delivering a burger for a hungry NPC, the next partaking in a jumping minigame for some extra coin.
For a game with a retro look and feel to it, the sense of discovery and exploration is more akin to an open-world epic.
That visual style reminds me of the Game Boy Advance, and the gameplay does too. Bright, colourful, wacky and a little bit devilish to boot; Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo feels like a cocktail of platformer, puzzler, metroidvania and RPG. But above all, it is fun. Coming from Pocket Trap, the Brazilian studio behind the likes of Dodgeball Academia and Ninjin: Clash of Carrots, that should go without saying.
The best bit though? You won’t have to wait long to play. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo launches on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC on May 28th 2025.
An Xbox Store page is up and ready for action for those looking to play on Xbox Series X|S, but you can also wishlist it on Steam too.
Huge thanks go out to PM-Studios and Pocket Trap for providing us access to Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo for preview purposes. We’ll follow with a full review around launch.
You’ll find the game launching on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC.
