In a world that’s constantly run by money, it becomes hard to really differentiate between what’s really necessary and what’s totally farfetched. We’re surrounded by so many material choices that our minds become oversaturated with things that often put us in a conundrum of sorts. Is this jacket really worth this much? Perhaps buying an extra sweater or two wouldn’t hurt the bank. So many questions race through our minds when the basis of money comes into play. It’s very clear that debt plays a very big role in our society and many of us find the challenge of overcoming it, to be quite overwhelming. All seriousness aside for a moment though as we now take a look at Penny Punching Princess, a game that pokes humor at the whole idea of “money is power”, and that in much respects it governs the world we live in. The game certainly uses a lot of political undertones to emphasize how debt can affect the common individual, but it does so with wonderful satire and of course, some very fun gameplay. You play as a princess who finds herself in debt after the passing of her father, and she now must pummel enemies in order to clear her name and make all that money. It’s a simple approach but it really starts to get fun once you go deeper into the chapters, and destroy every Dragoloan enemy that stands in your path.

Anyone who’s played any sort of beat-em-up will certainly find the experience to be an incredibly joyous one, while the game teaches you some important aspects of life without really making it too obvious. Who doesn’t like beating people up for money? Let alone an adorable looking princess with a vendetta who will stop at nothing to see the enemy conglomerate torn to pieces. Keep on reading for more!

Don’t take what we said earlier the wrong way, we merely were just trying to point out that while Penny Punching Princess is an extremely fun game that can go on for hours, there’s still something valuable to take away from it all. The game is no easy feat either as each chapter you embark on grows increasingly more difficult, and using the money you acquire from pummeling the enemy to ensure you survive the onslaught is imperative. You’re buying your way out of misery but in doing so, it creates a very jovial experience that can only be found in Penny Punching Princess. Everything you do in the game revolves around money in some way or another, and so, the game kind of teaches you how to properly manage it more sufficiently as you play through every stage. There’s a calculator that you’ll have to use in order to determine just how much you need to spend in order to let’s say heal yourself, or bribing an enemy or particular stage trap to work in your favor. It’s all about how you manage your money within the game and the more you learn to strategize your use of money, the more effective certain items and tools can become.

There are some RPG elements where you’ll earn skill points that you can use to level up your character, while collecting specific items during battles will help you to create better armor down the road (enhancing). Penny Punching Princess is a game that throws you into the heat of battle but implements a lot of fantastic humor to keep you laughing while doing it. The character interactions are always a treat to read and never seem to grow boring as each new punchline gets spicier than the last. It can be hard to miss all of that and just skip through just to beat the game, but we encourage you to really read the dialogue to get a sense of the dry humor that’s used to keep the story fresh.

While Penny Punching Princess’ gameplay does feel repetitive due to its beat-em-up nature, it’s still very refreshing especially when levels grow increasingly harder over time. The game does a great job of teaching you how to properly use special attacks that can be used to take down powerful bosses, and how to use bribing to your advantage. One thing that we learned the hard way is just what you want to spend your money on, since there’s so much happening on screen at once it can real challenging to decide what will benefit you the most. Similar to our question the first paragraph about what sweater or jacket to buy, the same happens when you’re being bombarded by a horde of enemies and you’re not sure which item or enemy to bribe. Do you want to set up a powerful trap to take out a group of smaller enemies? Or perhaps it’s better to spend a greater portion of your earnings to take down the bigger monster.

The games visuals also serve it well, especially on the Switch handheld mode where everything really stands out, and you can really get a glimpse of what’s happening around you. Penny Punching Princess provides players with a unique experience where your level of focus must be high at all times, in order to avoid being bombarded by enemies or carelessly walking into traps which are scattered everywhere. It’s not just about mindlessly punching your way through a group of enemies and collecting your fair share, it really takes some thought as to how you’ll approach every battle up until the boss battle. Also knowing just what skills to upgrade and how they’ll affect gameplay down the road is of great importance, since collecting Zenigami statues gives you huge rewards along with other rare drops.

At the end of it all, Penny Punching Princess may come across as a simple looking title but when you actually pick it up and play you’ll be heavily rewarded with a challenging experience. In fact we actually like the simplicity of Penny Punching Princess because it stays true to the beat-em-up roots, where your goal is to bash enemies into the ground, collect your rewards and move closer towards the end game. Each level is intricately designed and colorful, with every enemy posing a different threat every time. Some require that you optimize traps to maximize damage while other enemies require you to use the bribe feature to make use of their powerful strikes against tougher opponents. Once you get the hang of bribing, collecting your breaks and creating better armor, that’s where the beauty of Penny Punching Princess truly shines. Sebastian is hilarious and Isabella is nothing short of awesome, so get to know these characters more and don’t skip out on the cutscenes!

We hope that you found this review of Penny Punching Princess to be a satisfying one, and that it helped you to make a better decision regarding your purchase. We highly recommend this game to those who really enjoy simple visuals but provides an excellent source of action to keep you entertained for hours. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest news and trends from Japan, and of course follow us on Twitch to see us playing all of our reviewed titles live for you!

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