Angry Penguin

Angry Penguin is the very first game created by solo developer, Pain Pepper. It is a 3D platformer centered around a cute blue penguin. The graphics are very simple, with clear 90s retro vibes. The developer makes it clear that the platformer is deliberately very hard and is designed specifically for streaming.

Built in Timer

One feature that helps support streamers is a timer built into the game for speedrunners. This makes it so people who want to speedrun the game for Twitch or other streaming platforms don’t have to duel screen different programs as they race to finish.

Rage Inducing

The developer goes out of his way to let players know the game is hard. The game is indeed very hard, with sharks, spikes, and narrow platforms threatening to end your runthrough at any moment. The margin for error is so small that they even have an achievement for rage quitting. It’s a lot like playing the original Super Mario Bros with no saves and frequent deaths. Frustrating, but addicting at the same time. The majority of players who left a review on Steam seem to acknowledge this. Most people loved the game but acknowledged the frustration of gameplay.

What to Expect

If you’re wondering what sort of challenges await you in the game, Angry Penguins is really quite clever with its challenges. The beach section for example, includes platforms and islands the player must hop between, swinging bits of wood to knock the player off certain islands, and moving platforms to make jumps harder. There is no save option, so any losses will send players to the beginning of the game, much like those original retro games of the past.

Although the game is very difficult, it does offer an ‘easy’ mode to let players experience the game first, before things go completely insane. This adds a touch of fairness to the game - and also gives you no excuse when you know what to expect and still miss a jump or get knocked off the platform.

Expansions Planned

The developer regularly interacts with the community, and seems to care what they have to say. There have been a few bugs since release, especially with frame rate dropping, but he has clearly made an effort to address these.

On top of this, the developer has also announced that he will be expanding the game, offering more areas to explore, as well as an upcoming multiplayer feature. They won’t go into too many details about when this might be, but players can look forward to these updates eventually.

This is the first game of the developer, so it’s unsurprising there are some bugs here and there. What is surprising is just how good, and well loved, this first offering is. If you love speedruns, extremely challenging games, or rage-inducing ones, this is the game for you.

Pros:

• Great for streaming
• Speedrun timer available
• Very challenging

Cons:

• Some framerate issues