But Puppeteer is much more about using Calibrus to move around than it is to fight with its sharpened blades. You’ll do battle with the same enemy-type over and over again on the quest to free the souls of children, and it’s definitely disappointing that there isn’t more variety. Their obvious function is as a weapon, though outside of boss battles, Puppeteer’s combat is actually fairly straight-forward, and perhaps even a little bland. The other half of Puppeteer’s gameplay revolves around a pair of magic scissors – yes, magic scissors – called Calibrus. I love the duel-layering of form and function with Kutaro’s array of borrowed skulls. It’s kind of like Sonic’s rings, but on a considerable amount of digital acid. When he’s hit, he loses his head and has to either retrieve it or use another head in his arsenal. Heads range from the inane (a hamburger or a spiked ball) to the insane (a banana or a guillotine), and while each can be used in practical ways, the more overt use for them is to act as Kutaro’s health. There are scores of heads to find, and a majority of them are well hidden. Kutaro can toggle between a trio of heads at any given time, and each head has a special (usually innocuous) ability associated with it.
But this gives Kutaro an opening to try on other heads for size, and it’s here, with this cursory plot, that half of Puppeteer’s novel gameplay mechanics come to the fore. Our protagonist is a wooden boy named Kutaro, and he has a bit of a problem in that he’s quite literally lost his head while held prisoner by the ever-dangerous (and strangely cute) villain known as the Moon Bear King. Puppeteer is a side-scrolling platformer in which the player controls the character ‘Kutaro. Its presentation is unorthodox, and as such, it’s unlike anything I’ve played before. While the periphery of the stage and its red curtain can at first be quite frustrating to look at – it does cut off parts of the screen, after all - I quickly come to realize that it’s all part of Puppeteer’s charm. The action is viewed through the lens of an unseen audience, with their laughter, gasps, and occasional applause complementing everything you do. Puppeteer’s faux stagecraft style is a big part of what makes it so accessible and, in turn, so endearing.
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