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BOKURA: planet is a two-player, two-device-only co-op game that launched on Switch and Switch 2 on 7th August.
A follow-up to 2023’s BOKURA, indie developer tokoronyori says of the first game that he “kept wondering what scenery I might have seen if I’d gone in the complete opposite direction…In the end, I couldn’t hold back. I ran the other way, which is how BOKURA: planet was born, and the view here is incredible.”
Intriguing. Let’s see how NL’s two-man expedition went…
Crew member #1’s log (Blue)
I’ve played my Switch 2 near enough every day for the past three months, and the one fancy new feature I have used less than any other is GameChat. I have fiddled about with it hesitantly in the odd game of Mario Kart World or Drag x Drive, but I was yet to have as much fun with it as those squeaky clean 20-somethings in all the console’s marketing were promising.
It was then that I stumbled onto Bokura: Planet, an online co-op-only Switch 2 game that I had heard next to no one talking about, but one that felt tailor-made for some GameChat good times. Keen to see one of the Switch 2’s flagship features in action, I recruited a willing participant (say hello to Gavin, everyone!) and stepped boldly into a space puzzle adventure where (seemingly) few had gone before.
The result? A little over three hours of belly laughs and head scratchers, with a refreshingly creative story structure. It might not be the most visually or technically taxing use of Switch 2, but you’d be hard pushed to find a better use for GameChat.
But before I blast off into all that, let’s cover some context. This and its predecessor, 2023’s BOKURA, have a lot in common. Both are two-player-only affairs played online across two systems with a heavy focus on communication, which is vital to progression. Both use that central gimmick to give each player their own view of the same puzzle, often splitting you into different areas, which necessitates poor descriptions, bad sound mimicry, and a lot of trial and error. Both adopt the same simplistic pixel art visuals that frequently walk the line between cute and creepy.
The big change for the sequel (aside from the addition of GameChat if you’re playing on Switch 2, although the game is also on S1) is that the central ‘split’ gameplay mechanic extends to the story structure. A pair of space explorers crash-land on an alien planet and set about hunting down their lost recon drone and getting their bearings. The two nameless heroes are quickly split up, and each undergoes their own private story beats, which are kept secret — or should be — from the other throughout the rest of the game.
It’s an idea that I struggled to get my head around at first. A small crossed-out mic symbol appears on the screen before you enter your private story content, and it’s only after getting your first dose of text exposition that the game, or more specifically your character, explicitly says to keep it a secret from your partner. Unfortunately, Gavin and I are both certified blabbermouths, and for whatever reason, the mic symbol didn’t immediately line up with “Don’t tell your partner this bit” in either of our heads, as we both gasped and exclaimed in surprise before the game eventually put us in our place.
Even with the initial surprise half-spoiled — seriously, why not replace the mic symbol with something more concrete, like, I don’t know, a big red message reading “KEEP THIS BIT A SECRET, YOU FOOL!”? — the split story means Bokura: Planet stands out in the sea of co-op puzzlers. I chucked inwardly as I heard Gavin ponder the relationship between our characters (something I had extra knowledge of thanks to my private, and often unexpectedly dark storyline), and sat open-mouthed when certain revelations reminded me how little of the ‘full picture’ I’d seen myself.
It’s not all story and surprises, mind you. You’ll spend most of your time with Bokura: Planet working your way through a series of single-screen puzzles, where you’re tasked with describing your view to your partner, flicking switches, aligning symbols, and opening gates. The ‘split’ perspective is, once again, a neat idea (if not a particularly novel one), but Planet does a good job of mixing up the objectives so things don’t become too stale. We were smirking as we described suggestively-shaped symbols on one screen, then screaming as we dodged grotesque creatures, deadly drops, and lasers on the next.
The difficulty seemed to sit in a sweet spot, too, even when the screen-sharing capabilities of GameChat meant that we could peek at each other’s view and solve the problems quicker if we got really stuck. – Jim Norman
Crew member #2’s log (Red)
I quickly realised my error after blurting out my shocking onscreen events to which Jim wasn’t privy. In hindsight, of course the crossed-out mic symbol obviously means ‘STFU’, but with all the (well-localised) dialogue boxes I’d seen up to then, it felt odd to use a symbol to communicate such important instructions. I suppose the text represented in-game dialogue and thoughts, while the symbol was meant only for you, the player.
Anyway, that was only one of two communication hiccups — the other being when firing up the game for the first time and being presented with a Japanese EULA (don’t panic, just move to the option on the left and hit ‘A’ to cycle through the available languages – English is the second option) — but, honestly, it didn’t affect our enjoyment.
The ensuing blend of cutesy pixel art and slightly gungy body horror came as a surprise — a welcome one, although, along with all the phallic symbols, it did have us pondering that PEGI 7 rating — in a game that otherwise presents block-pulling, button-pushing, laser-disabling, now-I’m-controlling-a-robot-on-your-screen puzzles and light platforming challenges. It’s clever co-op stuff, mixing audio and visual conundrums engagingly, but the underlying narrative adds a touch of spice. It’s a poignant story that ties in the few verbs at your disposal in neat ways.
When it comes to negatives, the jump takes a little getting used to, and you’ll likely fall off some ledges during the three or four hours you’ll be playing – although auto-save means you shouldn’t have to redo much. Using GameChat means the audio is quieter, although that doesn’t affect the ambient soundtrack here too much — you’ll just have to listen carefully in sound-specific puzzles.
The game’s opening menu screen isn’t the most user-friendly, either. Sharing your code with your partner is straightforward enough (and the game automatically picks up where you left off when you pair up again in your next play session), but navigating the three menu icons feels more awkward than it should. Bokura: Planet also supports Mouse Mode, which is nice, although we struggled to find any reason for it beyond navigating menus.
For the low asking price, though, there’s nothing to get upset about, and Nintendo couldn’t ask for a better GameChat showcase. Indeed, having now played it, it’s easy to see why the platform holder waved this onto the Switch 2 eShop when so many other indie teams are struggling to even get dev kits. – Gavin Lane
Conclusion
Bokura: Planet was a lovely surprise, with an intriguing, diverging co-op narrative that creates tension beneath its novel puzzles without completely jettisoning its cutesy vibes for pixel horror. If you’re looking for a reflective, grown-up adventure with laughs, gasps, and perhaps even a tear or two, this affecting little expedition will claim but a few hours of your life and is worth enlisting a friend for.
