We return to the wide and curious realm of “small cult hits previously exclusive to Steam now available on the Nintendo Switch”. Initially released in 2018, to a decent amount of praise, Youropa is a mesh between a puzzler and an adventure game centered around physics as its main gimmick. All you need to do is use your (ugly) character’s suction cup “powers” to walk up walls, walk on roofs, and work your way through puzzles. Nice and easy.

Your weird suction cup thingy character is actually fully customizable. You can unlock new customization options for your hideous protagonist by making your way through each level and puzzle, until you can find some some cassette tapes. They are Youropa‘s main collectable; somehow, collecting them grants you more customization times. You basically start out with what’s essentially a blank canvas of a character, so thanks to sheer amount of items to unlock, and the ability to paste said items onto different areas of your character’s body (eyes, ears, nose, mouth), it’s very easy to make your character your own. You can have one eye, no eyes, two different eyes, a mouth on the top of your head. It’s not simply change how the mouth or anything looks, it’s place and paste where you want it.

The actual gameplay is somewhat unique. There are parts that are quite similar to that of Portal, the physics puzzles are neat, especially when you start to think about being on walls and upside-down. While your brain might tell you that if you walk off the edge of this roof you’ll go up (down, towards your feet), you’ll drop down because that’s gravity. Sometimes it can be hard not to forget which direction is up and how gravity is actually going to work. Thankfully as well, you can observe the larger area as well to help yourself find puzzle solutions, or more cassettes to make the perfect character.

One thing that I will definitely give to Youropa is the clever use of its actions and mechanics. As you progress through the game, your character will collect stars. Each star grants a new action to your little suction cup person, such as being able to zoom the camera out and get a better lay of the land, or just to find puzzle solutions. Grabbing things, and throwing (kicking) things also fall under this section of “basic functions” your character needs to learn. Unfortunately, none of them will help particularly well with the weird monster things that will punch the daylights out of you if they spot you running around.

One “weird” gripe with Youropa is that I genuinely don’t understand the point of having a “game over” screen, or an ability to die at all. You’ll gauge your characters health by how much paint is on them, as you take damage from falling, getting hit, or jumping off the map, the paint will get lower and lower on your body until you game over. The thing is, if you game over, you start again from the exact same spot you would if you just fell off the map, just with all your paint back. All the collectibles seem to stay collected, puzzles stay puzzled, it just seems like a bit of a pointless mechanic.

Youropa isn’t a hideous game, but it’s definitely not the greatest looking out there, either. Arguably the main issue against it is its excessive usage of shades of grey for pretty much everything: a lot of the foreground and background feature quite muted, bland colours. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it is quite plain looking, and unless you plan on running around with paint cans and painting the world yourself, it’s likely going to stay that way.

Luckily, or unluckily, the sounds of Youropa kind of match the looks. It’s quite a boring sounding game, listening to my own music was definitely the best way to enjoy it. The other issue is that the sound effects can be quite irritating, the suction cup sounds can get to be a bit too much after a bit of gametime.

If you’re into Portal, The Talos Principle, or any other game that forces you to think outside of box or in other creatives manners in order to solve puzzles, Youropa is a decent pickup. The amount of levels and collectibles throughout the game will give you plenty to do, and so much customisation means creating your perfect character. All in all, it’s a solid, if somewhat forgettable experience, but I do suggest playing it with your own music, unless you’re looking for some sort of tranquil nothingness.

Graphics: 5.0 Youropa looks respectable, but it’s certainly nothing special from a visual department. Everything in Youropa is distinguishable, but it all just looks very simple and bland. Very brief hints of anything but grey are not enough to save it.	Gameplay: 9.0 The actual gameplay and puzzle solving in Youropa is quite nice. It takes an interesting take on puzzle games and adds its own gravity effects in. The ability to grab, kick, or anything else come pretty quickly as well, so you don’t feel as if every puzzle is relying on the same new technique for too long.
Sound: 2.5 The music is tranquil and ambient, the only other sounds are your characters steps and the odd “enemy” you’ll find. While it may be to some people’s take while playing a puzzle game, I like something to keep my focus drawn to the game.	Fun Factor: 6.0 All around, Youropa is a very solid experience. I can’t say it’s a game I have desires to keep replaying and get 100%, but it’s a somewhat enjoyable game all around. Maybe an Xbox port would convince me to do it for the achievements.
Final Verdict: 6.0

Youropa is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Youropa was provided by the publisher.