Papo & Yo is a unique puzzle-platforming video game featuring an intensely personal narrative. The player takes on the role of Quico, a young boy in their game. His best companion is a monstrously large creature that is highly hazardous and is severely addicted to eating deadly frogs. Frogs, which, whenever the monster eats one, cause it to become aggressive and enraged. Lula, Quico’s dependable doll, and Alejandra, the girl with the enigmatic past, are going on this adventure with him.
The player’s experience takes place in a surreal setting based on the suburbs of a typical South American city. The city undergoes transformations and changes, sometimes at the player’s direction, to generate or solve puzzles and make new map regions available. The player character does not have any weapons, and all interactions are completed by either controlling the environment using levers or other simple (yet bizarre) gadgets or by luring the monster with fruits.
The video game is an allegory depicting the creator’s teenage years and his struggles while living with his alcoholic father. Many of the subjects in the game are allegories for real-life challenges, and every so often, the curtain is lifted, and the game uses realistic images to portray what took place rather than the bizarre visuals it typically employs.
