Listen, we’ve all thought it – what would life be like if we could be a cute mammal with a day job… and a bike? Well, Tanuki: Pon’s Summer lets us find out while in a delightful rural village filled with things to do.
Announced at the 2024 Tokyo Game Show as part of the Xbox livestream, the indie game comes from Denki Works and is due to release on Nintendo Switch in 2025. It’s also coming to PC and Xbox, but we’re here for the handheld release.
As the title suggests, you’re Pon the tanuki – delivery person for the village who owns their very own BMX. After all, how else will you get the packages from A to B? After completing jobs, you earn cash, which you can then use to decorate your shrine in time for the summer festival.
It’s not just mail deliveries, though. You can pop off some sick tricks on railings and other rural items in this Japanese village, and help the locals with some issues that arise. You can also catch bugs and play minigames involving sports and cooking to fill your long, hot summer days.
Pon’s Summer gives us Untitled Goose Game vibes a bit as you can annoy villagers if you wish. Let the cute carnage ensue. The game has an emoji-based system for talking to people, which makes sense as tanuki’s can’t talk as far as I’m aware, so maybe this ties into the aforementioned annoying.
If you’re a fan of cute games like us, check out our recommendations for the best games like Animal Crossing, some horse games, or farm games to get your green thumbs going.