I was out with a hardcore flu over the past few days, some of which had me endure a massive fever which may or may not have resulted in me seeing things that surely weren’t there. I may have gone delusional, that’s what I’m saying. Sometimes You’s latest game, Why Pizza?, may or may not have been part of these delusions, for I have no idea who the hell would have been able to come up with such a premise for a game, with such an art style. I’m pretty sure the mushrooms in this pizza weren’t actually shitake…

Why Pizza? is touted as a mix between a delivery simulator (Death Stranding, is that you?) and a platformer, but to be fair, this game is solely focused on the latter. Being a game published by Sometimes You, the kings of “quick and cheap platinum trophies”, you know what to expect from it: it’s basically a really simplistic physics-based platformer, with the objective of getting to the end gate as quickly as possible, making use of a few items and abilities along the way. Complete 14 levels, grab your platinum trophy, and remove it from your SSD. As a game itself, it’s basic, messy, with poor controls and physics. But that’s not its main selling point. That would be its presentation. It’s… something else.

Upon booting the game up for the first time, I was told to choose between a handful of playable protagonists, and that alone was enough to make me cringe and pray to a higher being. Every single abomination I could play as was uglier than the previous one. I have no words to describe how disturbing they all looked. I chose to play as a jar of mayonnaise with a giraffe-like neck and a Slender Man physique. Apparently, that Darwinian nightmare was considered fit enough to become a delivery guy. No matter who you decide to play as, they all move and play the same: you can walk, jump, air dash, use a few tools, and use a finite amount of “pin” moves, which allow you to summon a gigantic hand to help you with higher jump puzzles.

You can also use these pin moves to basically cheat your way through a level, for they are easily exploitable. Why Pizza? doesn’t feature decent controls or well-designed levels, but at the very least, its mechanics are so easily exploitable you can skip entire platforming sections with ease. Whether that was intentional or not remains to be seen. Sure, a lot of effort has been put into Why Pizza?‘s visuals (for better or for worse, they are still part of a vision), but I cannot say the same about the controls and level design. I really doubt the game was made with these speedrunner-friendly tricks in mind. Even the music felt odd, despite not being overly bad. It was probably the fact it sounded “normal” in game that resembles a fever dream, almost as if it was part of a package of stock music.

Why Pizza? might be wacky and unique (for better or worse) in terms of its presentation, but at the end of the day this is yet another subpar indie platformer whose sole selling point is giving hoarders and compulsive completionists another easy platinum trophy in less than half an hour. No matter how unsettling its presentation is, there are literal hundreds of games like this one out in the market, a good chunk of them offering a lot more polish and bang for your buck.

 

Graphics: 5.0 I can’t deny there was a vision and some effort put into the art style, which is very unique. Unique doesn’t exactly mean “good”, however. Sure, there is no other game out in the wild that looks like Why Pizza?, but dear lord what a visually unpleasant experience this was.	Gameplay: 3.0 Basic physics-based platforming that is poorly responsive, but also easily exploitable. It’s a mess.
Sound: 4.5 The soundtrack is played at a very low volume, but it isn’t all terrible. On the other hand, it sounds like stock music, as it rarely fits with the themes of the levels we’re currently at.	Fun Factor: 3.5 Despite its bizarre art style, Why Pizza? is yet another “cheap platinum trophy” game released for the PS5. You will beat it in around thirty minutes, grab that coveted trophy, and never think of it ever again.
Final Verdict: 4.0

Why Pizza?? is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Why Pizza?? was provided by the publisher.