It feels impossibly hard, sometimes. Great game.

Penny's Big Breakaway is quite impressive. As the playable character, Penny wields a magical yo-yo that grants her abilities like dashing, bouncing, riding, swinging, and attacking throughout the 8-10 hour story campaign. Players are challenged to master Penny's newfound skills, with the final few worlds standing out for their demand of a deeper understanding of movement mechanics, showcasing the intricacies of movement in the game. Jump-dashing into a ride at the perfect angle to enter top-speed is a joy.

However, Penny's Big Breakaway does have its flaws, particularly concerning obstacles. For instance, falling out-of-bounds or into lava triggers an immediate restart at a checkpoint, which feels unnecessarily punitive, especially during exploration or while learning the yo-yo's mechanics. The forced-perspective camera makes it difficult to double-back after you reach a check-point. Consequences, check-points, and camera design made it hard to just hang out in the world and take things in. One may sometimes feel rushed through. Those interested in time-trials may feel better served.

Additionally, certain obstacles, like the endlessly respawning penguin enemies, offer minimal challenge or gameplay variety to experienced players, and perhaps too much challenge to inexperienced players. These penguins attach to Penny, increasing her weight and slowing her down. Although players can disengage from them by jumping and dashing, the mechanics behind their attachment and its impact on Penny's mobility are not entirely clear to me. Later levels introduce more engaging challenges with these penguins, such as penguins that form rolling hoops, which threaten to chase Penny off of platforms, demanding players to prove their yo-yo skills to survive.

I neglect to mention the bugs, which I expect to be largely patched out over time.

Despite its flaws, Penny's Big Breakaway remains enjoyable, and one I expect to return to. If only to throw my Yo-Yo around one more time.

it's good

We're rich!

Fun little card game.