Comparing games is unfair. I know Sonic is way too different from Penny’s Big Breakaway to be a just comparison. I know, I know. And yet here I am playing a game from the creators of Sonic Mania (Evening Star consists mostly of them) and can’t stop thinking about how in the other universe it’s a Sonic game. Because it totally could be.
But it’s unfair. Penny’s Big Breakaway is its own thing, and what a thing it is! I don’t remember the last time I felt so elated when playing a game, but the debut from Evening Star has all the makings of a new 3D platformer classic.
But let’s start from the beginning. Penny’s Big Breakaway is a game about a girl named Penny who has some mad yo-yo skills. Also, her yo-yo is sentient, sometimes behaving like a rogue Transformer. It’s a weird game. It has that 90s weirdness: not really interested in explaining what the hell is going on, it just puts players in a new colorful and weird world letting them play as an extremely weird (but kinda cool) protagonist. Did I say it’s all a bit weird?
Penny’s Big Breakaway has a lot going for it. First of all, the visuals are wonderful: endlessly colorful and stylized, they remind me of something from the early 90s. Penny controls like a charm, although she takes getting used to — much like Sonic, in fact. Especially when she uses her yo-yo as a transport — it has the same momentum.
Read also: TEKKEN 8 review: The king is back
If you ask me, there’s just not enough new 3D platformers coming out. Even in 2024, they seem to be a very difficult genre to master, but Evening Star honestly has the skills. I loved controlling Penny, solving small side-quests from the local citizens (who always have a hilarious line prepared) and defeating bosses.
If I sound overly excited, it’s because I am. I was so impressed with the game at first, that I was ready to forgive most of its issues that it, unfortunately, does have. While I still think that it’s an incredibly fun experience that I can recommend to every fan of traditional 3D platformers, I also have to mention the state that it’s in. In short, it feels unpolished — especially on platforms like the Nintendo Switch. I played on Xbox Series X, and generally encountered no serious game-breaking bugs. Sure, it does have glitches. Sometimes collision physics doesn’t work. Sometimes you die where you’re not supposed to. On Xbox, the Quick Resume feature seems to break the game completely, making everything move as if in a vacuum. But those issues can be ironed out. The potential for a strong IP is there.
Read also: Cult of the Lamb: Sins of the Flesh — the update breathes new life into an excellent roguelike
Verdict
Penny’s Big Breakaway is already somewhat of a hidden gem. While it did receive a lot of marketing beforehand, its release could have been handled better. It also would have benefitted from more time in the oven. But it’s still one of my favorite releases of the year.