Cool announcement and shadow drop to boot!

This game got a lot of internet hype which always makes me a little wary--even earlier this year, the echoes of "THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES EVER" for Animal Well ended up souring my opinion on the game a little when I got to play it. Likewise with Undertale, Celeste, Stardew Valley and some other beloved Indies that I'm sure will gain me online enemies if I went on.

But it does look fun. Can someone who's played it give me a quick rundown on how it is and what makes it special? I do enjoy Wario Land 4 but it's kind of an 8.5/10 rather than up there with DKC2 and stuff.

@TriforceBun
I had that exact experience you mention with Outer Wilds recently and it really bummed me out.

I have been meaning to check out Pizza Tower as I do like my Wario games, but just haven't yet. It is also rare for me to play through a straight platformer all the way through these days. I do love its presentation however.

Gonna give this a shot tonight, if I have time. I loooooove Wario Land 4, but what that means for Pizza Tower remains to be seen. Could swing either way. Tried that Anton Blast game, and that didn't do anything for me.

At least Pizza Tower's got cool music.

I've played—and not mastered!—three levels and one boss so far. And yeah, the game is great! Really funny unique style.

It's got Wario Land style movement, but so far the wall-running makes the game way more focused on its movement than Wario Land. There's no precise formula to describe it by ("mostly Wario Land with a hint of Sonic" or whatever), it just seems like a nice new blend of platformer mechanics that takes the genre in a wacky direction that'll be really fun to master.

Comparing Pizza Tower to Pepper Grinder, for instance, PG has a more unique concept, but PT's execution makes it feel more unique to me overall.

@Secret_Tunnel
Cool impressions. I've watched a little bit of gameplay and it looks fun for sure. I like the manic off-model Cow and Chicken looking art style which is simple (and almost MS Paint-ish) at first glance, but so loose and confident that it works well. I'll probably grab this sometime down the line although I have a few games coming in over the next couple weeks to play first.

Tried the first level, and I liked it, but it's sure got a different vibe compared to Wario Land 4 (which is not necessarily a bad thing; a straight up copy would just be inferior to me) and it feels like there's so much movement tech to deal with early on. Feels kind of intimidating, and I don't really get the flow of it yet, but it's gonna be interesting to get back into it tomorrow.

Also, love the art style. I know this is comparing apples to pineapple pizzas, but it's so refreshing to see an indie game looking like an old Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network show starring a somewhat crude, yet almost worryingly expressive drawing of a quirky dude, in a world where I feel we get so much overdesigned bullshit.

Yeah this game is pretty wild. I've played it on Steam Deck, and it's really bizarre. I feel it leans more towards Wario Land: Shake It! than the GBA game...but it's definitely got that Wario vibe.

Since I already have the game on Steam, I might wait for a sale and pick it up later for Switch. (much like I did for Vampire Survivors!

The pre-escape sections might feel more like Shake It than Wario Land 4, yeah. Haven't played Shake It in a hot minute, though.

Went through the second level just now, and took my time exploring and trying to get a feel for how to transition between the various moves, and while doing that hasn't quite clicked yet for me (I know, this isn't rocket science), I had a great time trying out that suit of armor power up. Starting to really like this. On to the next one!

I haven't played WL4 since the 3DS Ambassador Program. I just 100%ed Shake It a few months ago though, and one thing I loved about that game is how the levels really want you to sink 30-40 minutes into them to fully piece together how they work before moving on. The game feels really inane if you just run right through.

Pizza Tower feels similar to me; I'm not getting much out of just breezing through a level once and then moving on to the next. But where it differs from Shake It is that mastering these levels (as @r_hjort points out) relies on a lot of advanced movement tech that you can't sit down and master all in one go.

So it feels less like a puzzle-platformer and more like an arcade game, where you're going to be replaying each of the 16 levels many many times before you really learn them. It's an interesting design style, and I'll have to see how long I want to stick with it.

Well I went ahead and picked this up too. It's fun! I pretty much agree with the general sentiment in this thread vis-a-vis movement, speed running, etc. I could see myself really getting into it if it clicks. I enjoyed the first boss too.

On the second floor now, and I gotta say, I don't like the wall running. The inertia feels weird to me, and I think it gets in the way of me dashing around all horizontal like sometimes. I'm sure I can get better at handling it to the point where it doesn't feel like a problem, but I doubt I'll actually like it. Would rather have had a standard wall kick or something.

But that's pretty much the one thing I don't like right now. The boss fights have been pretty cool, the power ups are varied and fun to play around with, and the whole surreal package everything comes in is so likeable. Even the main menu where you select your save file is great. The way Peppino's anxious gaze meets an equally nervous gaze from TV Peppino, and seeing the guy in the TV look all depressed when his save file is picked is so good.

EDIT: Wasteyard. Ten out of ten level.

I've S-ranked the first two levels and am working on the next two. I've also played through a few levels in floors 2 and 3 a few times. Really great stuff, and the style elevates it to Indie Classic status—I think this will be one people are still playing in ten years.

Oh yeah, this is gonna be looked back upon fondly for sure. On floor 3 right now, and the game just keeps spitting out new mechanics and gimmicks for every single level. And they're all good. It's kind of nuts.

But one thing that's weird: When you're trying to escape the level and time is ticking down, how the hell do the clock pickups not add time to the clock? This is worse than the old Castlevanias using hearts for ammo instead of health.

I'm having a good time but something about this game is a little confusing to me. It's a creative title with a lot of energy and fresh ideas, but I do find its speedrunning elements at odd with the treasure-hunting ones. When going for good ranks, am I supposed to comb the levels for all the bonus areas etc each time? If so, that means I basically have a single attempt at getting out fast enough with no way to restart. So I'm not quite sure what I should be going for when trying to get the best ranks.

Part of me wonders if a "Restart from Pizza Time" option would've been a better idea rather than having to do the entire 10+ minute stage in one go.

@TriforceBun

It seems like the only way to get an S-rank is usually to pick up the big treasure and three secrets, as well as doing a second lap and maintaining a big combo throughout. So you have to play through the entire thing pretty much perfectly, yeah.

@Secret_Tunnel
Ahh. I don't mind requiring (near) perfection for the best ranks, but it'd be nice if I could have a way to practice/replay the second "half" of the level (escape) rather than having to do the first half every attempt.

In that sense, it almost feels like the game was designed to bring together entire speedrunning communities. People who love the routing and people who love the execution both have their work cut out for them with this.

Doubt I'll bother too much with the higher ranks myself. I'm sure I'll try to perfect the levels I like the most, 'cause the best ones are great, but I'm not gonna go for the whole game or anything. Don't feel like I get as good of a flow going as I probably should. That's probably more on me than the game, but I felt the escape sequences in Wario Land 4 guided you a bit better in general, though there are exceptions.

Just want to come in and potentially correct myself. The game just keeps getting better, and as I go back to previous levels I'm reminded of how different they are from the ones I've played more recently, making them even more fun to revisit, so I guess going back to perfect them isn't entirely off the table. It's more gonna be a matter of having the time to do so.

Great game, this.

Has anyone finished this? I got so distracted by replaying other stuff that I fell off, but I still maintain that I'll get back to it one day...!

@Secret_Tunnel
Yeah, I finished it. There's still stuff to collect and explore, but I did beat it. Liked it a lot!