Review: TANUKI Pon's Summer
A very busy summer for a little tanuki.
THE GAME
TANUKI: Pon's Summer is a life simulation and delivery game developed by Denkiworks and distributed by CRITICAL REFLEX. Pon, the tanuki responsible for taking care of the shrine located on a small island in Japan, has an important mission: to restore the shrine before the great tanuki festival. However, time is short and he has to race against time to get money for this mission. Unable to find any work, he initially gives up, but opportunity knocks and he gets a job at the post office. Thus, mounted on his BMX, Pon is now in charge of making deliveries to the island's residents to earn some money. However, he won't only help the residents with deliveries. In addition to deliveries, some residents will ask for help with other activities, opening up more possibilities for our little tanuki. With the money in hand, renovate and customize the shrine as you see fit and prepare it for the festival.
MY IMPRESSIONS
Despite the story of TANUKI: Pon's Summer revolving around racing against time to renovate the shrine, don't worry, that urgency is only in the script. You'll have all the time in the world to explore the small Japanese island on your BMX. TANUKI: Pon's Summer is a very casual game, and the player dictates the pace of the adventure. It's a narrative-driven game, but it always gives you time to do what you want. The game is in Brazilian Portuguese, which helps the player follow the story more easily. If you only follow the main story, you'll have a linear story experience, meeting the island's inhabitants, helping with some activities, and staying within the narrative, as if you were living in a cute cartoon. You'll make your deliveries going from point A to point B on workdays, but you'll always have some days of the week that are free. TANUKI: Pon's Summer offers more than just being a delivery game. As the story progresses and you get to know the villagers, you unlock secondary activities such as fishing, photography, and insect hunting, for example, in addition to the game's main mechanic, which is riding a BMX. Riding a bike around might seem simple, but we're talking about a BMX, meaning you can perform radical maneuvers by jumping off ramps or sliding on rails, either randomly or while on your way to a delivery. Performing tricks also earns you money, encouraging the player to constantly jump and take risks with stunts along the way. It's interesting how the BMX mechanics closely emulate extreme sports games, even in their aesthetics, which, to me, is a great homage. The game's art is very cute and cheerful, with charismatic characters that seem to have come straight out of an anime. The attention to detail, especially in the tanuki's movement, impressed me. For example, when it passes near a talkative character, even if only passing by, the tanuki follows the character's direction with its head, as if paying attention to something. It seems simple, but I think it shows a lot of care for what is being done.
In general, TANUKI: Pon's Summer doesn't create much friction for the player, since the idea is to tell a more casual story. Despite this, there are BMX challenges scattered throughout the map, and these will demand a little more from the player, with challenges involving collection, time trials, or scoring. The secondary activities will also give you more challenges, such as fishing for all the fish of all rarities or capturing all the insects of all rarities, for example. With the money acquired from the various activities and from your work at the post office, our little tanuki can buy objects to decorate the shrine and customize it as you see fit, positioning the items as you see fit. You can also buy hats for Pon and style him however you like. TANUKI: Pon's Summer is a perfect game for those who want something slower-paced, but which allows the player various activities without forcing them into anything. All the commands and missions are simple, but it also offers extra challenges for those who seek that. It's a game without penalties for mistakes and that only cares about making the player comfortable to have fun in whatever way they see fit.
ACHIEVEMENTS
While your main journey won't be too difficult, completing all the achievements in TANUKI: Pon's Summer will compensate for that. Aside from the achievements tied to the main story and the sanctuary restoration, which will naturally be completed, the remaining achievements are almost like a separate game from the main storyline. Starting with the gathering tasks, after acquiring the fishing rod and bug-catching net, you can collect fish and insects, which can have different rarities. Collecting all the fish and insects will earn you achievements. However, where things get really challenging is with your BMX. Besides performing high-scoring combos, there's an achievement for completing all the BMX challenges scattered across the island, and there are over 100 of them. They have varying difficulties and objectives, but still, it will be a good challenge for a player who wants to complete 100% of the achievements in TANUKI: Pon's Summer.
CONCLUSION
Initially, I thought TANUKI: Pon's Summer would be a race against time game as its story unfolded. As soon as you get the job as a delivery driver, I thought I'd have some kind of time limit to make deliveries, and to my relief, I didn't. So, I realized TANUKI: Pon's Summer would be a more relaxed game without major conflicts. The problem is that it quickly becomes repetitive and drawn out. Even though you do different activities to help the residents, and narratively this is interesting, the rest of what you religiously do every day in the game ends up being very tedious compared to the story being told. Riding a BMX seems like a separate game, but it doesn't really connect with the main story. TANUKI: Pon's Summer does a little bit of everything, but nothing stands on its own; that is, some aspect or mechanic won't appeal to you because it's too far removed from the others. Still, it's a fun game and great for those who want an adventure without any pressure, playing at their own pace.
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