PINEAPPLE: A Bittersweet Revenge

I'll be straight with you: my usual beat is grand strategy and city builders, so a bite-sized bully-revenge puzzler is about as far from my spreadsheet comfort zone as it gets. But PINEAPPLE: A Bittersweet Revenge surprised me enough to warrant an honest write-up, because what looks like throwaway mobile content is actually a tightly authored little experience with a clear point of view. The premise is lifted from an allegedly viral internet post: you're a school kid who has spent weeks studying the habits, locker codes, and daily schedule of the class bully (dubbed the Witch), and now you're ready to retaliate using the world's spikiest fruit. The structure is chapter-based, with each chapter opening on a new narrative beat before dropping you into a self-contained minigame. The variety here is the game's strongest card. One chapter has you sneaking past people unnoticed; another involves physics-based throwing. You'll pick locks, hack key systems, spy through binoculars, and at one point disguise yourself as a school mascot. None of these minigames are especially deep, but they rotate fast enough that none outstay their welcome. The presentation is the other genuine selling point. The hand-drawn art leans into a comic-book-meets-teenage-notebook aesthetic that has real personality. Transitions are slick, the protagonist sports a fruit sticker for a head (there's an in-story reason for that, which pays off at the end), and the original punk-inflected soundtrack gives the whole thing an energy that a game this short badly needs. At the end of each chapter, a chorus of schoolchildren sings a brief summary of your crimes, which is a genuinely charming structural choice. Where the game runs short - and it will run short, clocking around two hours total - is in the actual challenge. The minigames are forgiving to the point of feeling generous on scoring, and there's no real systems depth to return to once the credits roll. Controller support is also reportedly looser than the point-and-click mouse interface. Players expecting puzzles that require sustained lateral thinking will find the difficulty curve flat. The game's stronger argument is tonal: it does raise honest questions about bullying without moralising, letting a moment of quiet reflection land at the end of what is otherwise a comedy. For the strategy crowd I normally write for, I'd frame it this way: think of this as a palate cleanser between 80-hour campaigns. It asks nothing of your planning brain, delivers a complete story in a single sitting, and has enough craft in its presentation to justify the runtime. It won a Best Ludonarrative award at the Guadalindie Festival in Málaga 2024, which tracks - the writing does more work than the mechanics. Go in with calibrated expectations and you'll leave satisfied. Go in expecting a puzzle game with teeth and you'll feel the runtime acutely. Diego, Scout Team

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