McPixel 3 Review: The hero we probably deserve

Oh, McPixel! Thank God you’re here. Hurry, this way! We don’t have much time — 30 seconds, in fact! You see, the train we’re on is hurtling towards a cliff, the tracks ending abruptly due to *mumbles incoherently*. Anyway, we need you to figure out how to save us all! Your options are… oh, you’re going to pick up a fish on the ground? Okay great, maybe that will help! Now if you could just… oh, you’re going to take a woman’s wig off her head? Maybe we’re witnessing a new MacGuyver! So now what are you… oh, you’re putting the wig on the fish? That’s… that’s great McPixel. I’m so glad I spent my last seconds on this Eart trusting yo– <insert dramatic train crash noises here>

This scenario is but one of many in McPixel 3, a high octane, melt your brain pixel art point and click adventure that goes off the rails more often than it stays on them. The highly anticipated sequel to the first McPixel, original solo indie dev Sos Sosowki teamed up with publishing powerhouse Devolver Digital to bring the ridiculous and beloved (ridiculously beloved?) hero back to our screens. And for only $10, McPixel 3 won’t break your bank (even if it breaks your brain).

McPixel 3 doesn’t have a super coherent continuous storyline, but it does have an over-arching premise: McPixel must perform daring dos to diffuse bombs and other explosive situations. Outlandish vignettes are scattered throughout his city that follow a certain theme, such as sports, time-travel, or video games (meta!), and it’s up to McPixel to find the danger, eliminate the danger, or die trying (from the danger). Although McPixel is likely to spend most of his time dying than saving the day, the deaths are humorous in nature, so collecting all the gags becomes part of the game.

For example, there’s a scene where McPixel travels back in time and becomes a dinosaur — just in time for the infamous asteroid to come hurtling towards him. Although the correct sequence of events is to bend his long neck down, pick up a small raptor, fling it up onto the asteroid, and then bury his head in the dirt where the raptor was to avoid a fiery death, there are other options available, such as hugging a fellow dinosaur or licking his own feet and puking until the impact destroys all. While saving the day is important, collecting all the gags is necessary for 100% completion of the game, so fail those tasks successfully!

Although McPixel 3 is probably best described as a point and click adventure, it honestly struck me as more of a puzzle game. You only have 30ish seconds to figure out how to solve a problem before the bomb explodes (or the tracks end, or you get hit by a car, or you get ejected into space, or…), so it’s tempting to click around on every little option available before time runs out. But it’s critical to remember exactly what you did in the last run, because if that option ended in death, you’ll want to try something different this time around to see if it yields any new branches. This can get tricky if you’re cycling through every single vignette, but as you clear them one by one, you’ll have the ability to focus solely on the one that you’re struggling with, which is very helpful.

I don’t have really any complaints for McPixel 3 because it does everything it sets out to do. It’s quick-paced gameplay with an insane amount of jokes and referential humor that made me excited to keep playing long into the night. The art itself is hilarious, ranging from meticulously detailed shadoing to Atari-level graphics, and the music is crazy catchy (I bobbed my head to it constantly while playing). I think the only thing I would recommend is to provide a little more opportunity for those split second moments where you have one literal second to choose between two options is to maybe show that there are, indeed, multiple options (especially if I’m clearly struggling and have tried the level for ages). I’m looking at you, caveman level (¬_¬).

McPixel 3 is an intensely fast and fun time. It’s that point and click adventure game that us 80s/90s kids would have talked about on the playground alongside Mortal Kombat, swapping stories about potential fatalities and gags to discover and giggling at the crude humor. I’m struggling to think of who this game wouldn’t appeal to — a labor of love that just about anyone will find interesting (or at least funny). If you’re ready to save the day — or die, die again trying — the titular hero in McPixel 3 could certainly use the help (before he explodes… again).

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: XBox One, XBox Series X, Switch, PC (Reviewed); Publisher: Devolver Digital; Developer: Sos Sosowski; Players: 1; Released: November 14, 2022; MSRP: $9.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of McPixel 3 provided by the publisher.