Pity Pit (PS4/NS)

Little context is given for Panda Indie Studio's latest indie arcade platformer, "Pity Pit". Through a starting intro cinematic, and tools of the trade though you'll be able to figure things out fairly easily. Basically Oratio, a dwarven miner, finds his beloved kidnapped by the devil, and taken down into the depths of a pit. A pit which Oratio bravely dives into for the rescue. Armed with a pick axe, and a satchel for carrying bombs and materials he ventures downward as the pit collapses in after him. A journey towards the center of the Earth done up in a randomly generated fashion that changes the perils, and plundering opportunities with each consecutive playthrough.

Much like popular arcade games of the past such as Dig Dug, and Bomberman the highscore focused indie game that is "Pity Pit" has the player doing some deep digging and bombing as they make their way to an end goal. That end goal being the rescuing of Oratio's betrothed somewhere in the bowels of the Earth. The game, at base level, is setup in numbered stages or levels that are mostly a randomly generated layer of soils, and block types that hinder you from getting to the next stage. Some of which require bombs to break. Embedded in the soil, and blocks are materials and coins that can be collected, and used at each stages' two smithing shops. Including one shop which allows you to regain health for a price, and stock bombs using materials gathered as well as convert specific materials into a stronger material for use in the later smithing shop where new digging tools of different strengths are crafted in a similar fashion. Further complicating the otherwise speedy descent, and escape from the pursuing collapse are enemies of different types that can be avoided or killed using the pick axe, bombs, or other power-up weapons.

Controls are simple in Pity Pit, and mainly require the use of a melee tool that can be swung left, right, and downward against soil or enemies. There's also a jump button, and a bomb that when in stock in your inventory can be used by pressing up, and the melee button to drop the bomb. Some explosives you'll encounter outside of the stocked bombs must be struck with Oratio's current tool, and the explosion avoided by distancing Oratio outside of the blast radius. The blasts follow lined paths much like with Bomberman, and will clear out lines of blocks and soil in the process. Sometimes even killing enemies caught in the path of the explosion.

Scoring in this particular arcade experience comes from the clearing of certain soils, and blocks as well as through the collecting of certain things.That, and the killing of enemies. While there's plenty of scoring potential within each stage you'll find that prioritizing which places you dig, and which paths you take is crucial to survival. At start you only have three health hearts, and one is taken away each time you get hit by an explosion or enemy. The only way to regain hearts is to collect heart power-ups or stop by the first shop, and spend some coin on them. It should be noted that soils, and blocks containing items of interest have material indicators as a part of their construction. This helps you better plan what you need to dig, and what's best to avoid.

In the way of options you'll find that they are limited. At the start of the playthrough you will see a few icons that you can hit with your pick axe which when hit toggle on or off that feature. This includes both the music, and sound effects. That, and one other thing I can't quite figure out.

Visually, and artistically Pity Pit lies somewhere near the 8bit era of gaming. It is pixel constructed with a limited palette of colors. Mostly muted colors with reds, yellows, and blues thrown in to add contrast to it all. In the way of animation things are only lightly animated like they were back in the 80's. The soundtrack, which also hails from a similar time, is chiptune in nature. Completing that retro feel that coincides with the game's inspirations.

The Verdict ...

This is a fun little randomly generated high score platformer that offers infinite replay value. That being said it fails to meet the standards of a high score arcade experience. The problem being that things are randomly generated instead of static. Making high scores not really comparable due to variables in scoring opportunities. While this might be off putting to some I liked the infinite replay value, and the fact that each playthrough is different. I found the experience both addictive, and challenging. Something that definitely requires skills. I would suggest to the developer perhaps patching a static mode for true high score competitive value. That would definitely increase this game's value, and longevity. For what it's worth ... I dig it! Pun intended. I actively sought this game out for review, because I thought it looked promising, and it did not disappoint.