About 3 minutes into TANUKI: Pon’s Summer I realised it was a very different game to what I’d expected. I went in thinking it was a gentle, cosy delivery game where you play as an adorable tanuki as he makes pocket money over the summer. Almost immediately though I realised he’s actually a lazy layabout who, when he isn’t sleeping, is raising hell around town on his BMX. Still, there’s definitely some cosy DNA here and Pon is such a charming little bugger that by the end of the demo I was left looking forward to the rest of his summer break.
When we meet Pon he’s lounging on a park bench like he’s been out boozing the night before. After heading back to the shrine he calls home, it becomes obvious that he’s actually the good-for-nothing custodian charged with maintaining the tanuki shrine and his neglect has caused it to fall into a state of disrepair. This also means that the townsfolk ignore it entirely: instead of coming up to pray and pay respects, they associate the tanuki with the little asshole you play as and steer clear, and the tanuki spirit who resides at the shrine isn’t happy about it. After a bit of back and forth you eventually pick up a job at the local post office and you’ve got the summer to raise enough money to repair and decorate the shrine ahead of an upcoming festival.
This sets you up rather nicely for a daily routine of collecting parcels from the post office before heading out on your BMX to deliver them and collect money. Fitting everything in your bike basket is half the challenge with a relatively simple but enjoyable grid-based inventory system that requires a bit of thought to make sure you’re using the space effectively. Once you’re out in town you’re left to your own devices, free to ride, trick and grind your way around like a canid Tony Hawk, dropping off parcels to the eclectic mix of locals that live nearby. A standard drop-off might simply be a case of going to someone’s house and handing over their parcel, but you’re equally likely to drop off a package to a sumo master and get roped into a few rounds of sumo practice with him, opening up a minigame that has you stomping, slapping and pushing until he’s out of the ring.
Exploring town on your bike is a lot of fun, and you’ve got the ability to boost, jump and do tricks, flips and grinds as you’re racing around. The bike controls well, although it can be easy to lose control when trying to do more precise movements. The town is thoughtfully configured for BMX japery too, with grind rails and power lines, quarter pipes and plenty of lines across rooftops that often lead to piles of coins for your stash. You don’t often need to engage with tricks and grinds, but that didn’t stop me from doing them at every opportunity I had, and when it’s this fun I don’t blame Pon for neglecting his duties and tearing around on his bike instead.
It’s a gorgeous game too. The visuals are lovely and vibrant, and the town is packed with details and locations you soon learn to spot in the distance, such as the towering yakisoba store. Pon himself is so cute too, with oodles of personality showing through his animations, like the way his arms flail when you make him spring or how his entire body smushes down when he’s charging up a bunny hop. I also loved the imagery in the loading screens, which look like panels from an old comic strip and I hope to see more of them in the full game.
TANUKI: Pon’s Summer is a charming delivery game that weaves in extreme sports and various other minigame mechanics effortlessly and Pon himself is a lovable little rogue you can’t help but smile at. There’s plenty to like about the demo and with a whole summer to spend with Pon, I’m sure there’s a lot more to love too.
The TANUKI: Pon’s Summer demo is out now on Steam.
