POPUCOM: Everything We Know

If you thought Nintendo taking a leaf out of Splatoon’s book for the sake of forging Foamstars was one thing, wait till you get a load of POPUCOM, a brand-new candy-popping multiplayer platforming shooter. Needless to say that, visually, it’s pretty much on the same spectrum as the aforementioned paint-and-foam favorites. Having said that, there are, in fact, several differences that set the upcoming party game apart from its rivals. What are they? Well, we’re still trying to figure that one out, we’ll be honest.

Anyway, title aside, what more do you actually need to know about POPUCOM? Will it be worth unloading your wallet for, or will it be one for the throwaway pile? Well, here’s everything we can currently tell you based on the information provided to date.

What Is POPUCOM?

To put you in the picture, POPUCOM is an upcoming match-three co-op platform shooter—a colorful entry, of sorts, that’ll look to bring fledgling partners together to complete various puzzles and overcome a multitude of obstacles. Apparently, said partners will need to work together to “restore life and bring new hope to a ravaged planet.” Fair enough.

Granted, there’s still a great deal we don’t actually know about the oddly titled game and its “ravaged” world, other than the fact it’ll foster colorful weapons known as Rainbow Poppers. Going by the blurb, these ranged firearms will be used in most situations, and will involve having the player match certain ammunition types with color coded objects to progress. It sounds rather simple on paper, for sure, but who’s to say it won’t be slightly more complex? It’s hard to say at this point, although we’re pretty keen to find out all the same.

Story

As it currently stands, we can’t for the life of us figure out what on earth the story is about. Sure enough, it’ll feature cutesy humanoid heroes and their trusty Rainbow Poppers, and it’ll also feature a mysterious world that’s evidently flush with neon obstacles and a rich sci-fi coating. And it’ll be this world, apparently, that players will need to fight for — if only to restore balance and return it to its former glory. But that’s about all we know so far, so we’re pretty much stuck in the dark at this moment in time.

There is one thing we have, which is the names of the four characters that’ll frontline the story: Rollo the Bomb, Captain Kitty, Barrier Bot, and Power Kid. Again, not a whole lot to go on, but according to the blurb, players will need to befriend each of the four characters in order to shovel through certain trials and complete objectives. Just as well — because it’s a four-player game.

Gameplay

Judging from the looks of the blurb, POPUCOM will be a range of things—the most obvious being a co-op adventure. To add, though, it’ll also be something of a rhythm game, as the vast majority of the puzzles that it has showcased to date all seem to have one thing in common, which is a match-three format. According to the devs, players will need to use their Rainbow Poppers to match colors with items, tools, and other mechanisms in unison; the quicker the bullet, the better the outcome. Or at least, that’s what we’ve been able to figure out from the in-game screenshots, anyway.

“Throughout the game, players must switch their colors to match those of certain mechanisms in order to trigger various effects. Find the right timing and change your color to overcome a series of obstacles,” the blurb expands.

“Fire the Rainbow Popper at a Pomu to generate another Pomu of the same color as the bullet. Matching three Pomus of the same color instantly eliminates a threat.” That’s the general outline of it, anyway. It all sounds simple enough — and in reality, it probably is. Even still, what lures is in is the blurb’s tagline: “Enjoy an adventure with no boundaries.” They’re certainly aiming high with that one, but we’ll have to see how it all pans out in due course.

Development

In case you missed the initial announcement, POPUCOM is being developed by Hypergryph, a relatively new China-based outfit that formed back in 2017. Its portfolio, although rather bite-sized in comparison to some of the other independent studios that operate on a similar wavelength, has just the one project — Arknights. Going by its website, POPUCOM will be its second full-fledged IP, and will launch in tandem with a third game, Ex Astris.

As it stands, there isn’t a release date for either of the two aforementioned projects. If all goes according to plan, though, then we could be seeing POPUCOM arrive on PlayStation and PC at some point in the next twelve or so months. But, you know, try not to quote us on that.

Trailer

If you’re even the slightest bit interested in seeing POPUCOM in the virtual flesh, then you’ll be glad to know that a trailer was released just earlier this week. But don’t let us spoil all the fun; you can watch it for yourself in the video embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Unfortunately, developer Hypergryph has been pretty quiet on the whole release date front. Having said that, the studio has gone as far as to say that it’ll be heading to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. As for whether it’ll reach Xbox and Switch or not remains to be clarified.

So, has POPUCOM caught your eye? If so, then be sure to check in with the devs over on their joint social handle for all the latest updates here. If anything changes ahead of its global launch, then we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of POPUCOM when it releases on consoles and PC? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.