Pizzapocalypse 2 made an excellent first impression, mostly because its colorful world feels so inviting while still keeping the simple pleasure of platforming front and center. We played the demo on Steam Deck, exploring the level prepared by Monkey Strike Games. It’s a 3D platformer about an unlikely pizza-wielding hero taking on PizzaCorp, a company that’s filling the world with robots and canned pizza. The premise is deliberately silly, but the game clearly puts real thought into how moving through its environments should feel.
The art direction is the first thing that stands out. The environments look fantastic, and the characters are just as appealing, with lively shapes, colors, and expressions that make it worth stopping to take in the scenery. Some areas reminded us of Super Mario Sunshine, particularly the cheerful atmosphere and the way urban spaces turn into vertical playgrounds. That comparison is about the look and feel of the world, though, not the actual gameplay, which works quite differently. And from what we’ve played, this isn’t an open-world platformer.
The demo takes place in a self-contained level, but there’s enough room to choose how you move through it. Alongside the main objectives, optional challenges encourage you to explore side paths, climb onto unlikely rooftops, and check corners that would be easy to miss. We found a bunch of pineapples to collect, along with a smaller number of photographs or postcards tucked away more carefully. It looks like the sort of level that gives completionists something to work toward without forcing everyone else to scour every inch of the environment. Having a clear destination while still being able to wander off is one of the demo’s biggest strengths.
Simply getting around on foot is satisfying, too. The controls are forgiving in a good way: the game often seems to understand the jump you’re trying to make and gives you a little help completing it. That’s especially noticeable when landing on suspended cables, lampposts, or other tiny pieces of scenery, where a more rigid platformer might turn every attempt into a frustrating series of falls. You still need to aim your jumps, but there’s enough assistance to keep moving through the level enjoyable. Pizzapocalypse 2 is bursting with charm, combining gorgeous environments, beautifully designed characters, and forgiving platforming that makes exploring its world an absolute delight.
Oddly enough, the game’s most unusual mechanic is also the one we enjoyed the least. You can throw your pizza forward to create a springboard, gaining height or crossing obstacles that would otherwise be out of reach. It’s a fun idea with plenty of potential, but in practice, the biggest challenge is learning exactly when to throw it. If you’re trying to climb a building, for example, mistiming the action can send the pizza straight into the wall or place the springboard too far away to use. At that point, you already know what you want to do. The tricky part is getting the timing right enough for the move to work.
It’s too early to say whether that mechanic will become enjoyable once it clicks. We hadn’t mastered it by the end of our demo session, and it wouldn’t be fair to call an initial learning curve a lasting design flaw. Still, it’s the part we’re most curious to revisit. More demanding platforming sections will depend on whether pizza throwing starts to feel intuitive, rather than demanding repeated attempts at obstacles whose solutions are already obvious. The demo also lets you try a couple of vehicles, although neither made much of an impression on us. Exploring on foot was easily the more enjoyable part of the experience.
The Steam Deck experience was excellent. We saw a relatively steady frame rate of around 40 fps during our session, and the game felt great to play. The developers are planning additional locations, outfits, and secrets for the full release, but what matters today is how well this single level works. And there’s a lot to like already: terrific art direction, a level worth exploring, and movement that feels good from the start. If the pizza springboard becomes as enjoyable as the rest of the platforming, Pizzapocalypse 2 could be one to watch.
