Tux and Fanny
Review

Tux and Fanny (2021) is a retro adventure game about a two friends who want to play football, but discover their ball has a puncture. The simple set-up, like the pixelated graphics, hide a complex and intriguing journey. You set off to help them inflate their ball, but are soon knee deep in a child-like adventure as strange, varied and weird as children's imaginations often are.

Play is wide ranging but most often you are tinkering around in the world a bit like a point-and-click adventure. You can adjust the ariel on the TV for a better picture. Or maybe play the piano, or a WarioWare style mini game. You can head outside and hunt for bugs and birds. You do this as the main two characters, or if you prefer take on the persona of a bird-eating cat or prophesying flea.

It's a game that opens up more possibilities the more you explore. Every item you find goes straight into your inventory in case it comes in handy later. You can combine items to achieve a range of helpful things.

"When you take a closer look, everything is an adventure," say the developers. They have created a unique game that stands out not just because it looks unusual and plays strangely, but because it creates a sense of intrigue in the player. It's a game that invites investigation and poking-around-in unlike many others we've played.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Tux and Fanny 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 14 months ago.