This may be a visual pun inspired by the name "bachi hebi" (literally "bee snake"), which the Tsuchinoko is also known by.ĭunsparce may be a combination of dun (grayish yellow or gloomy) and sparse (referring to its rarity). In addition, Dunsparce shares some traits with bumblebees, including their stripes, tiny wings, stinger-like tail, and the fact that they burrow into the ground. Moreover, the fact that Dunsparce, a snake-like creature, has wings also brings to mind the motif of the Feathered Serpent, a prominent deity or supernatural being in many Mesoamerican religions. The Tsuchinoko curls its body to leap through the air. Unlike real snakes, which slither from side to side, a Tsuchinoko wiggles ahead in a straight line. The noises it makes resemble squeaks, chirps and snores. Its body is thicker than its head and tail. Tsuchinoko are 30 cm to 80 cm long, with a large head and poisonous fangs. Similar to Bigfoot or the Chupacabra, sightings and reports appear in Japanese media however, hard evidence is always lacking. Dunsparce was designed by Hironobu Yoshida.ĭunsparce is based on the mythical Tsuchinoko, a serpentine cryptid of Japan.It is also shown as much smaller than its listed height in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, being even smaller than Pikachu.In the anime, Dunsparce is usually shown to be much shorter than 4'11", which is its listed height (or in this case, length) in the games.If this sounds like your type of game, then I strongly recommend checking it out - it's a masterpiece in its genre.
I said "dream-like worlds" above, but be warned: towards the end it gets quite nightmarish instead, with some truly scary and haunting places to explore (especially if you play it as recommended: with headphones in a dark space!) The game doesn't rely on cheap jump scares, but instead, crafts an excellent, tense atmosphere, where some things are clearly not as they should be. The level design is excellent and clear: despite needing to search for some items, you're never really lost, and there's very good, subtle guidance throughout, though also enough space to explore some side paths, and some hidden secrets. This may sound negative, but I think the forgiving gameplay is actually fitting here: it rarely gets in the way of enjoying the sensory experience and exploration, which is what this game is all about, but it provides enough interaction to keep you engaged and interested. Tip: learn to use your sprint button, also in mid air. Fortunately, the former choice is made here, although there are still a few places where one missed jump requires some tedious backtracking. Jumping challenges rarely create good gameplay: either they're relatively simple and boring, or they're tedious and frustrating. Then there are jumping challenges, sometimes with moving platforms. You always get further by being friendly and helpful, which is something I like. You have some choices in dialog options, which mostly give different, interesting responses, but in the end it's still a mostly linear experience with no major choices. The gameplay by itself isn't very deep: most challenges are key/door challenges, sometimes literal, sometimes figurative (help an NPC by fetching an item for them). The dialogs are well written and engaging: each NPC has its own character and "voice" (not literally - there's no voice acting), and interesting things to say. The sound design and music is excellent too, and helps to create a unique atmosphere for each world. Nevertheless, it's very beautiful, with excellent lighting and beautiful VFX. The game uses a retro, PS1-style aesthetic, with low res pixelated textures and low poly models. There's an incredible amount of high quality content: 12 completely different, beautiful, immersive dream-like worlds. It's hard to believe that this game was mostly made by one person.
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