Teeto

Introduction

Teeto casts players as a small shapeshifting blob and his bunny companion Nory, sent out into a colourful world to rescue an eccentric cast of characters called Michaels and stop a shadow corruption from spreading. It's a straightforward premise wrapped around a very deliberate genre homage: a 3D collectathon platformer in the mould of Nintendo 64-era Mario and Banjo-Kazooie, with a Kirby-style absorb ability layered on top. Developed by the two-person team at Eat Pant Games and published by Super Rare Originals and CouchPlay Interactive, it released 15 July 2026 to a "Very Positive" reception: 69 of 72 total launch reviews recommend it, and this review reads every one of them. For a debut from such a small studio, that response is emphatic.

A love letter that plays as good as it looks

Reviewers are near-unanimous about Teeto's lineage and its execution of it. "This is an absolute love letter" to classic 3D platformers, reads one representative review, while another calls it "steeped in Mario 64 nostalgia and full of its own quirks and mechanics that make it stand out as a great game on its own." The absorb mechanic — letting Teeto take on abilities from objects and enemies he consumes, echoing Kirby's copy ability — draws specific praise for avoiding gimmick territory: one reviewer notes it "isn't just a gimmick," while another calls the way new powers unlock across the campaign "used in pretty interesting ways." Comparisons to Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro, A Hat in Time, and SpongeBob: Battle for Bikini Bottom recur constantly across the sample, framing Teeto less as a copy of any one game and more as a confident synthesis of an entire genre era that many reviewers feel has been under-served in recent years.

Charm, humour, and voice acting that punch above the studio's size

Beyond the platforming itself, reviewers repeatedly single out the writing and presentation as a standout for a two-person team. "The humour is a bit weird" admits one reviewer, but most land more enthusiastically: "witty writing and fun mechanics," reads one review, while another highlights "good voice acting, let alone in a genre like a platformer... the characters' lines are fully- animated." Several reviewers call out specific comedic beats, including a running "Michael" naming joke for the game's rescue targets and an opening news broadcast segment that sets an irreverent tone early. One reviewer, playing with a nephew in co-op, notes "some of the names that went over my nephew's head but I got," suggesting the humour is pitched to land for adults and kids on different levels simultaneously — a genuinely difficult needle to thread that the sample suggests this developer largely threaded successfully.

Movement niggles that keep recurring

The sample's most consistent criticism is mechanical rather than structural: movement feel. "The double jump felt really unresponsive," notes one reviewer, while a more detailed negative review complains specifically about momentum: "you need momentum for your jump to not go like 1cm horizontally, and it's annoying... trying to get the momentum on smaller platforms." A separate reviewer flags a stiff initial acceleration, asking the developers directly to consider "making it so that Teeto always moves at full speed if the left stick is pushed to the furthest it can go." None of these complaints are treated as dealbreakers by the reviewers who raise them — most still recommend the game overall — but the pattern is consistent enough across the sample to represent a real, specific rough edge in an otherwise well-received control scheme.

Bugs, and a co-op mode that can break

A handful of reviews describe concrete technical problems at launch. The sample's most detailed negative review reports a core mechanic failure: "one of the mechanics 'absorb' — which is a huge part of the game — stopped working for me... reloading the level, restarting at checkpoint... all of this was kind of frustrating." Other reviewers report smaller but still notable issues, including falling through the world, missing interaction triggers, and backgrounds turning into "black voids" in specific chapter transitions. Co-op mode draws its own specific complaint: one reviewer who played the whole game with a nephew in split-screen reports "the boss fights... didn't seem to like having 2 players and would break, so we dropped" back to solo for those sections. To the developers' credit, multiple reviewers separately note that bugs they personally encountered were patched quickly, framing the launch as rough in specific spots rather than broadly unfinished.

What the achievement data shows

Teeto tracks 47 achievements under generic, non-descriptive names, so individual milestones can't be mapped to specific in-game moments the way a more legibly-named list would allow. The overall shape is still informative: a cluster of achievements above 90% likely representing an accessible tutorial and early story beats, a long, fairly even middle band running through the 20-60% range consistent with steady progress through a multi-act collectathon campaign, and a tail of achievements below 15% that likely correspond to full completion or optional challenge content — a distribution that fits a game reviewers describe as easy to start but with real depth for completionists willing to hunt down every Michael and collectible sphere.

Value

At a list price of NZ$26.99 — discounted 30% to NZ$18.89 at review time — reviewers consistently frame Teeto as a strong value proposition, especially given the polish and content on display from such a small team. One reviewer, budgeting a 100-games challenge, called it "charming" enough to buy outright after trying the demo; several others explicitly cite the low asking price relative to a 5-to-8-hour campaign, plus outfit unlocks and optional collectibles, as tipping an already positive impression into an easy recommendation.

Final Verdict

Teeto is an unusually assured debut: a 3D collectathon platformer that wears its Mario 64, Kirby, and Banjo-Kazooie influences openly while finding its own voice through a well-implemented absorb mechanic, genuinely funny writing, and full voice acting rarely seen at this budget level. Stiff initial acceleration, an inconsistent double jump, and a scattering of launch bugs — including one report of the game's central mechanic failing outright and a co-op mode that can break during boss fights — are real, specific issues rather than vague complaints, but they haven't stopped 96 percent of its launch audience from recommending it. For fans of the genre, especially those looking for a co-op pick to share with a partner, child, or nephew, it's an easy, confident recommendation.