Kuso

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Kuso is a challenging Platformer released on PC in 2017, ported to Nintendo Switch in 2018, and then ported to mobile devices in 2020. This game is the sequel to LOVE, and is similar in both its gameplay and presentation.

That presentation is again extremely simple, presented with single-colored pixel art platforms against a black background, with occasional interactive elements in white, and that’s it. Some levels do have some degree of ornamentation in the platforms, but overall this is a game with visuals that feel extremely old-school. This is backed by a decent but forgettable synthesized soundtrack.

In terms of good and bad qualities, Kuso is also very much like LOVE. It features simple gameplay, decent level design, and is an extremely short game that you’ll complete within an hour, easy. While the game has 41 levels, 16 of those levels are carried over from the prior game, meaning that only 25 of the levels here are actually new. I suppose the bright side of this is that there’s not really any reason to get LOVE, as Kuso contains that entire game’s content within it. Plus, at $5, it’s a little easier to forgive this game skimping on content.

If you’re looking for a simple, challenging platformer, Kuso is decent enough for what it is, but it’s so short an experience that you’ll be done with it extremely quickly. And while you may enjoy it for the hour or so it lasts, it’s not memorable enough that you’re likely to think of it muh beyond that.

tl;dr – Kuso, like its predecessor LOVE, is a challenging Platformer with extremely simple graphics, a high difficulty level, and a short play time. It is not for everyone, but players looking for a smaller platformer to challenge themselves might find it to their liking. Plus, this game includes versions of all of LOVE’s 16 levels, so players considering this series can skip straight to this game.

Grade: C+

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