When you imagine a multiplayer shooter, bright colors, cute outfits, or flying cat robots likely don’t come to mind, but that could change after playing Popucom. Initially launched in June 2025, this distinctive title arrived on Switch in December, delivering an unexpected blend of combat and puzzle elements to create one of the year’s top multiplayer experiences.
Initially, Popucom might be confused with another excellent title that subverts traditional shooter conventions. Its vibrant world and doll-like characters share considerable similarities with Nintendo’s own adorable multiplayer shooter, yet the two games differ vastly in actual gameplay. While Splatoon focuses on competitive stage control, Popucom emphasizes cooperation, allowing up to four players to collaborate through a collection of ingeniously designed platforming levels.
The distinctive quality of Popucom lies in its fusion of shooter and match-3 gameplay, which truly excels in its two-player story mode. Throughout each stage, characters can alternate between two colors at the press of a button. Your currently selected color appears on your outfit, and shooting unleashes a matching colored blast. Encountering the game’s blob enemies, firing a matching colored shot generates additional enemies of that color rather than destroying them, while connecting three identical enemies makes them vanish. This same principle works on environmental colored blocks, enabling you to match three of one color to eliminate them, or combine different colors to create bigger platforms.
Combat hits its zenith during Popucom‘s boss encounters. These bosses appear as enormous clusters of multicolored blobs, demanding careful shot coordination between you and your partner as they retaliate with their own attack waves, transforming the experience into a sugary-sweet bullet hell.
However, Popucom truly excels in its puzzle design. Color serves as the central mechanic, with levels containing platforms and barriers matching your character’s hue. You can safely stand on same-colored platforms or glide through matching lasers, requiring constant color-switching to progress. Teamwork proves vital, as early stages introduce all the tools needed for mutual assistance. A shield blocks same-colored lasers to protect your ally and can transform into a platform to ferry them across dangers or to elevated areas. Another gadget converts you into a bomb capable of clearing barriers and squeezing through narrow spaces. The most bizarre and best tool is a cat piloting a flying saucer, useful for whisking away enemies or hoisting obstacles to forge new routes.
Though it looks approachable, Popucom offers substantial challenge. It never becomes maddening, yet its puzzles demand both rapid mental processing and swift reactions while you and your teammate traverse its hazardous, vibrant world. This multiplayer experience necessitates ongoing discussion about puzzle-solving strategies, making it ideal for local co-op or online play with voice communication.
2025 has proven to be a strong year for multiplayer titles, with fascinating new releases gaining traction alongside established favorites. Popucom merits recognition among the finest multiplayer offerings, as its innovative genre-blending makes it the most unexpected co-op experience of the year.