Game: Phogs!
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PS4, Xbox and PC)
Developer|Publisher: Bit Loom Games | Coatsink Software
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £22.49 | EU €24,99 | US $24.99
Release Date: December 3rd, 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to Coatsink Software
Phog Life
Phogs! covers the three C’s: its Cute, Cuddly and Casual. If you’re a gamer looking for a little lifting of the spirits or maybe know someone else that needs a pick me up? Then Phogs! might just be the game for you! Find yourself a good buddy and prepare for a charming game suitable for practically all audiences. It also helps if you like dogs.
You play as a weird two headed snake creature with dogs for heads. While in most universes this would be the stuff of nightmares, the graphical style of Phogs! is vibrant, welcoming and utterly adorable. You’ll visit a variety of worlds with unique themes like food, sleep and play. Each world is welcoming and filled with cute and silly NPC characters that might wave at you or possibly stroke you if you let them. Phogs! is a game that is welcoming to everyone and it’s hard not to smile at just how over the top positive it is.
Bark and Stretch
The aim of the game is to control the two headed dog and roam around levels solving casual puzzles and looking for the odd optional collectible. If you go at it alone you control each dog head with an analogue stick and use the shoulder buttons to bark, grab and stretch. When you do this it makes a noise my wife found rather uncomfortable like the expansion of a long balloon. Only in this case you don’t need to fear your character bursting.
It’s one of those games where the controls are deliberately a bit floaty and mildly cumbersome as you can have the dogs sort of push pull off each other. It all adds to its charm leading to some silly moments where the dogs might catapult into the air when one dog is holding onto a post and lets go at the right moment. I guess this also leads to a mild niggle where the camera is not always pointed in the right place and can occlude your view of areas. But this was quite rare.
Casual Puzzler
The puzzles in each level are fun to solve and cover a nice range. Sometimes you might need to be stealthy to get past some weird bird search lights, connect your dogs like a hosepipe to water some plants or maybe control a giant pair of scissors. During my playthrough I never really hit any walls or obstacles I couldn’t overcome by simply exploring the world and experimenting with the control scheme. It’s nicely suited to a audience that doesn’t want a stressful time playing the game. Even better, if you aim to go co-op the game feels suited to people not particularly skilled at video games.
Two Dogs are Better Than one
Playing alone was pretty fun but to me the enjoyment was heightened with a second player. You have the choice to play co-op either locally or online. For this review I was only able to fully explore the local option but its nice that the option is present to share this experience with someone you can’t see in person right now. All your co-op options are covered. Phogs! is a game that demands to be shared with someone else and might just lift the spirits of someone that really needs it.
Phogs! has plenty of content to keep you busy. There are 3 worlds to explore with several levels as well as plenty of collectibles to find. If you find the collectible bones you can use these in a shop to exchange for new hats for your dog.
With such a simple control style this is quite a easy game to dip in and out of as well, if you don’t want to take on the whole adventure in one go. For me, the incentive to replay is to hopefully one day share this game with other friends in co-op. Prop the Switch on a table throw a joy con at someone and prepare for some laughs.
The Phog Days are Over
Phogs! is a game that will make you and hopefully a friend smile from ear to ear much like the constant smiles of the dogs you play as in this game.
The joy of this title really comes from sharing the experience with someone else. But if that’s not possible for you then this is still nice casual puzzler to cosy up with and enjoy in handheld mode.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
What the heck are you supposed to do with the seesaw?? Does it give you a bone??
I believe we just played on the seesaw just for fun. I don’t remember getting a golden bone for it. A lot of the fun of Phogs is just messing about in the environments.