Cooperative video games are always a great time, which is why I love stuff like Overcooked and Moving Out. More often than not, these sorts of puzzle games lead to hilarious hijinks and really put relationships to the test. Sure, I may get a little frustrated from time to time as any human being would, but with the right group of players, you know you’re in for a good time.
All You Need is Help is a kawaii multiplayer cooperative puzzle game from my dear Q-Games. You may recognize that name; the studio created the PixelJunk series of games (notably PixelJunk Monsters), Nom Nom Galaxy, and a personal favourite The Tomorrow Children. After spending the past month (and a much needed update) playing the game locally as well as via online matchmaking, I feel like I’ve played enough to put together some thoughts on it as an unpaid former game reviewer.
Crazy Cozy Critters
The best way to play All You Need is Help (or AYNIH) is with an in-person group of four or an online game with friends while using Discord or PlayStation’s group system because communication is key. Playing online doesn’t provide voice communication which can at times really challenge your patience. There’s only so much preset messages can get across. Why? Because the catch here is that you cannot rotate your own piece. You’ll need the help of your teammates and other obstacles in order to turn yourself around.
At the start of each level, your knitted block will take on one of the shapes required to complete the puzzle. Most levels have additional steps to complete before you can line up to fill in the space; some levels have buttons to press down in order to lower barriers, or in the case of my least favourite levels, you’ll have to dispense a yarn ball which then needs to be guided toward a hole so you may reach puzzle pattern. That particular one is my least favourite, especially with only two people in Duo Mode. My favourite levels are the ones where you are on a small island with very little space to move around. Especially when you pull the really loooooong piece. IYKYK!
Say you’re a player or two short, now what do you do? Well, Duo Mode is available should you need someone to control two of the blocks. When you turn this on, you’ll be using each side of the controller to move around. (Left stick and D-pad for one, right stick and buttons for the second.) This can get a little confusing so I recommend taking some time to test out the controls in the lobby before jumping into a level.
Online matchmaking can be a rough go. Finding random players can take a while, so if you’re sitting in the lobby waiting for cross play people to join you, be patient. It’s probably the online real negative I have with the game at the moment. Well, that and sometimes hitting network errors that drop me from lobbies or levels. To be fair, when I was experiencing these errors our ISP seemed to be getting all weird but that was only in the evenings and I was playing in the afternoons.
Let’s All Go to the Lobby
While I absolutely hate those guide the ball levels, the counterpoint is how much I love spending my hard earned coins at the gatcha machine. When you successfully complete a level you earn coins in addition to any that you collect while manipulating the shapes into place. Every hundred coins is worth one gatcha pull, and you can get all kinds of fun items to zhuzh up your character and their room in the lobby.
Every pull at the machine also earns you a new sticker on your punch card. Filling out those cards is crucial for unlocking new areas and accessing more mini-games and puzzles. They’re also how you expand your room size so you can fit more furnishings inside and show off your collection.
Changing up my look in-between matches is something I often do. While you can’t switch up your colouring, you can bling yourself out with fun bowties, hats, and goofy glasses. You’ll also unlock “skins” which are new design patterns for your woven blocks. There are also some really cute name cards, including Tomorrow Children themed ones which I need every version of.
I did run into an issue while playing Duo Mode and dressing up my lil dudes. Before a match, I’d take them to their respective rooms and dress them up in different clothing to help me distinguish them while I’m playing. But upon returning to the lobby from completing the match my fuzzy yarn buddies were now wearing the exact same thing. Sadly, this happened time and time again. A bug report was submitted but as of this writing it seems the issue persists. And I’m OK with that because there were some much more important bugs that needed to be fixed before my weird little problem.
I truly think All You Need is Help is a fantastic game to add to your cooperative game night rotation. It benefits the most by being experienced with an in-person group of four, and provides a lot of the same hilarious moments you may have encountered with Overcooked, KeyWe, and other such titles. The level designs are very intuitive and only take one or two attempts before learning the mechanics. Definitely a family-friendly game you could use to help younger kids with shape recognition and problem solving. ⭐⭐⭐⭐