Pogo With Friends

Bounce up a mountain, one embarrassing fall at a time

Pogo With Friends is a short co-op physics platformer from solo studio Beaked Games, sending up to four players bouncing on pogo sticks through villages, caves, and boss encounters on their way to a treasure waiting at the top of a mountain. This review draws on an English review sample, only 13 reviews at the time of research (12 positive, 1 negative), most of them brief.

Praised for smooth, chaotic physics comedy

Reviewers consistently credit the game for turning its core pogo mechanic into a genuine source of comedy rather than frustration. "The pogo physics are incredibly smooth, which makes it even more embarrassing when you miss a simple jump. Best co-op torture 2026," reads one review. A separate reviewer sums up the appeal in a single line: "10% jumping, 90% screaming at your friends to stop falling. A masterpiece of pain." This review treats that as fair: independent reviewers describing the same specific quality, physics precise enough that failure feels earned and funny rather than cheap, is credible evidence the core feel of the game is well tuned for its intended comedic co-op audience.

Praised specifically as a shared, chaotic experience

This review also found consistent praise for the game's value as a social activity rather than a solo one. "Playing with friends who seemed to have their brains on airplane mode was a real endurance challenge but somehow, we still made it through," reads one review. A separate reviewer frames the same dynamic more wistfully: "I started the game with my friends, now it's Pogo Without Friends. Really fun mechanic 10/10." This review treats that as fair: reviewers independently framing the appeal around watching friends fail together, rather than around any individual challenge or story, is credible evidence the game is doing what a short co-op party title is supposed to do.

A fair complaint about an unhelpful multiplayer design

Set against that praise, this review found a specific, detailed complaint from the sample's most substantial review. "The major problem I see with it is that the friend only hinders you. If they fall, there is no way to help them recover, it's just an automatic reset, same way if you fall, your friend can't save you, so what's the point of playing with friend?" that reviewer writes, still recommending the game overall but with reservations. This review treats that as fair: a reviewer who otherwise enjoyed the game raising a specific, concrete structural criticism, that the multiplayer mode offers no mechanic for players to actually help one another, is a reasonable point for prospective buyers to weigh, since it runs directly against the cooperative framing the game is sold on.

A fair complaint about lag and a short solo runtime

This review also found a corroborated technical complaint. The sample's sole negative review states plainly: "my friend was really laggy. The game is alright. I'm refunding it." A separate, positive reviewer independently reports a similar frustration in more detail, describing extreme lag alongside a litany of other exaggerated, joking complaints about their session, blaming the game for problems ranging from an overheating computer to a keyboard that, in their words, "suicide." This review treats that as fair, once the joking framing is set aside: two reviewers, one negative and one otherwise positive, both independently flagging multiplayer lag as a real annoyance is credible evidence of some rough edges in the netcode, even if it did not sour every session, and notable given how small the overall sample is. Separately, the reviewer who raised the recovery-mechanic complaint also notes the game "could probably [be] finish[ed] in 30 min if you played solo," a detail this review treats as fair context: the entire experience is built around a short session, so its value depends heavily on playing with friends rather than treating it as substantial single-player content.

A note on this review's very small sample

This review draws on only 13 English reviews at the time of research, one of the smallest samples this review has covered, and most of them are brief, joking one-liners rather than detailed accounts of the game itself. This review's own check of Steam's global achievement data shows the large majority of players reaching the game's earliest milestones, over 90% for the first few achievements, falling off steeply toward its rarer, later goals, broadly consistent with a short, approachable structure built for quick sessions rather than a long campaign. Several of the more specific claims above, particularly around the multiplayer recovery mechanic and the lag complaints, rest on just one or two more substantial reviews rather than broad corroboration, so this rating should be read with real caution until a larger review base is available.

Final verdict

Pogo With Friends is a short, cheap co-op physics comedy that earns real, corroborated credit for smooth, funny physics and a genuine sense of shared chaos among friends. This review found that praise tempered by a fair complaint that its multiplayer design offers no way to actually help a struggling friend, some reported lag in co-op sessions, and a runtime short enough that its value depends almost entirely on playing it with others rather than alone. For groups of friends looking for a short, silly session built for laughing at each other's failures, it's a solid cheap pickup; players wanting a forgiving co-op design or substantial solo content should temper expectations.