A delicious Metroidvania that’s as punk and gross as it is good.
There’s a weirdly overt penis looking statue in Cookie Cutter. It’s called a Chodo, which is a riff on Metroid’s Chozo, but it’s a chode. Get it? There’s also a lot of gore, and a lot of boobs, and chainsaws, and even a sign that’s an homage (maybe?) to Hollow Knight but with a very different theme. If you’re wondering if all of this might seem gratuitous — guess what? You’re right! But it’s done so to be punk, to be in your face and make you squirm a little but also to break norms about what themes in games can be.
But also, hey, Cookie Cutter is a hell of a fun game. It controls real well, with specials that are easy to pull off and a focus on melee attacks that puts it apart from other games in the genre. There are some issues with the parry system though, and it tends to lead to missed hits. There’s also a considerable difficulty spike towards the end of the game, which is a little unbalanced because so much of the experience allows us to feel like we’re way overpowered. But these problems aren’t big enough to harm the enjoyment of the full game experience. They definitely are annoying though.
Cookie Cutter‘s awesome hand-drawn art style is really something to enjoy. The aesthetic actually adds to the controls and pacing, too. Once we learn how many frames an animation will take, we can plan how to approach an attack or a jump, and lets us manage our flow through the levels. It’s really good.
In fact, all of it is really good. Cookie Cutter is really good. REALLY GOOD. It’s a blast to play, with a lot of energy and self-awareness, and the characters and plot are worth the experience alone. For a game that leans into so many parts of the genre, it uses punk to break right back out and be something new.
This review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. All images and video courtesy Rogue Games. This review originally appeared on The SideQuest Live for January 12, 2024.
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