The Pedestrian Critic Reviews

The Pedestrian is visually, audibly, and almost completely mechanically sound. Be warned, though, there isn't much in terms of hints along the way. But in the end, you'll be surprised at how far you can make it with drive and a little brainpower.

The Pedestrian is a wonderfully crafted puzzle game. As it shines visually and with its very pleasant soundtrack, it offers a simple but brilliant concept, with a great difficulty curve and new ideas that make it simply unique and absolutely lovely.

Taking a more relaxing approach to the classic puzzle platformer genre leads The Pedestrian to a big win here.

As the complexity increases, the time you’ll spend with puzzles grows, as you start out on multi-part endeavours within one screen, trying to wire up circuits to open barriers to be able to restart the puzzle over with more freedom to rearrange the pieces, in order to wire up circuits to open bar… You get the idea. And yet it never feels obtuse, nor perhaps most importantly, smug. Instead there’s a cheery demeanour throughout, even when the puzzling has teeth.

The Pedestrian is one of the most enjoyable games you can play this year, even if you are not a big fan of platform/puzzle games. It is original, fun and it will extensively test your mind.

The Pedestrian is a great puzzle game that any fan of the genre should try. It’s smart, challenging and looks fantastic.

The Pedestrian may look like another simple skill-platformer, but the sum of all ofits additional elements —setting, aesthetics, original mechanics— makes it a great game for every fan of the genre.

The game’s strength lies in its simplicity. The Pedestrian keeps evolving up until the end and the graphics are both very clear and very pleasant to look at.

Quotation forthcoming.

I’ve nothing but praise for The Pedestrian. Its fantastic concept shines through, but beautiful graphics and excellent, inclusive game design make it something quite special. If you enjoy platforming games and want something with a bit of a twist, you could do a lot worse than The Pedestrian.

Solving puzzles and exploring my way through the vast network of road signs within The Pedestrian’s fictionalised city I found to be a complete blast and an experience that I will likely revisit in future. I found that it managed to strike a solid balance with its difficulty and it constantly introduced new elements to help keep its novel concept from feeling one dimensional. I did encounter some minor issues with the audio and I wish chapters were present to revisit stages but this fortunately didn’t prevent it from being one of the first standout indies I have played in 2020.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Pedestrian, a clever puzzle game that skillfully interweaves its concise puzzles with the game world. This clever game is more than worth a few hours for twenty euros.

The Pedestrian is a very inventive puzzle game with a lovely graphic design and an engrossing gameplay. Too bad it’s a pretty brief experience that is over too soon.

Whether it’s the complimentary add-on of its voyage through the environment — and the way the game makes one’s trip a pleasant scurry from one city region to the next — or the ample ways the game adds-to, subtracts-from and so easily flips former rules/conventions on their head, The Pedestrian taps terrifically into the many joys, frustrations and epiphanies that this genre of video game is so good at carving out. Clever, confident and a fine debut for Skookum Arts, The Pedestrian has established a clear high bar — marking itself down as this year’s first must-play for puzzle enthusiasts far and wide.

I don’t think that The Pedestrian has a grand point to make, and that’s okay. Even without a message or an emotional hook, this is a beautiful, fiendishly clever little puzzler that surprised me at every turn, and that’s more than enough.

Novel presentation and a masterful complexity curve, but The Pedestrian's very shy about storytelling.

It’s a charming platformer filled with clever environmental puzzles. The concept of having a stick figure character walking around the many signs found in a city, provides an interesting backdrop that brings a unique aesthetic, albeit with not much participation in gameplay terms.

There’s a real freshness to The Pedestrian's take on puzzle-platforming and world manipulation. The constant introduction of new, sometimes surprisingly complex ideas means there’s enough to keep you moving through the nicely segmented challenges. The levels themselves can be quite repetitive in both look and feel, making the game tiresome during long play sessions, but it lends itself well to short-burst experiences and never lets you feel too lost. The Pedestrian executes its charming premise well, with just enough complexity to keep your brain pleasantly stimulated.

Narrative misgivings aside, The Pedestrian would make a solid introduction to puzzle-platformers for the uninitiated and an enjoyable diversion for genre veterans. It’s hard to find fault with the originality or functionality of its puzzles or the charm of its presentation. It even has a few surprises in store for players of all types, although if you’re like me, those surprises might sour the overall impression a bit.

Having the player advance through environments by rearranging rooms, The Pedestrian succeeds in creating a puzzle game with simple rules that is visually interesting at the same time. The difficulty is always well balanced, and the surprising climax makes great use of the game’s features. Yet, at the same time, The Pedestrian never manages to truly stand out of the crowd, resulting in a game that feels like a role-model student who lacks real personality.