Amid the din of sequels, shooters, sports games, and whatever other savorless noise we tend to find ourselves inundated with come E3 time, it's a pleasant rarity when a smaller project finds a way to stand out in the crowd and make an immediate impression.

One such project is the newly announced Papo & Yo for PlayStation Network, a game from indie studio Minority Media and the mind of its Creative Director, former EA Montreal creative head Vander Caballero. Making its debut on the PlayStation Blog, this inventive-looking title stars a young boy growing up surrounded by South American favelas. He has a best friend, aptly named Monster, who acts as his protector, but also has a dark side. Monster is addicted to eating frogs, and when he eats them, he becomes a destructive terror, even to the boy himself. His only mission is to cure Monster of the disease that afflicts him.

Addiction is not something that's been addressed in games much outside of the basest examples--see any iteration of NARC, or Grand Theft Auto--but for Caballero, it's a very personal thing. The relationship between the boy and Monster is meant to directly mirror that of Caballero and his father, who was himself an abusive addict. There's no sense in me recapping the entire blog entry, since his words will ring much truer than anything I would repeat. You should read it for yourself.

While the subject matter is dark, Caballero and team seem to have found a fascinating balance between addressing the personal issues at play, and creating a fun game that people would actually want to play. You can see more for yourself in the trailer, which I've embedded at the bottom of this story.

Thankfully, Papo & Yo will make its playable debut at E3, and now all that's left is for Patrick and myself to have a knife fight to determine who gets to go check it out.

Amid the din of sequels, shooters, sports games, and whatever other savorless noise we tend to find ourselves inundated with come E3 time, it's a pleasant rarity when a smaller project finds a way to stand out in the crowd and make an immediate impression.

One such project is the newly announced Papo & Yo for PlayStation Network, a game from indie studio Minority Media and the mind of its Creative Director, former EA Montreal creative head Vander Caballero. Making its debut on the PlayStation Blog, this inventive-looking title stars a young boy growing up surrounded by South American favelas. He has a best friend, aptly named Monster, who acts as his protector, but also has a dark side. Monster is addicted to eating frogs, and when he eats them, he becomes a destructive terror, even to the boy himself. His only mission is to cure Monster of the disease that afflicts him.

Addiction is not something that's been addressed in games much outside of the basest examples--see any iteration of NARC, or Grand Theft Auto--but for Caballero, it's a very personal thing. The relationship between the boy and Monster is meant to directly mirror that of Caballero and his father, who was himself an abusive addict. There's no sense in me recapping the entire blog entry, since his words will ring much truer than anything I would repeat. You should read it for yourself.

While the subject matter is dark, Caballero and team seem to have found a fascinating balance between addressing the personal issues at play, and creating a fun game that people would actually want to play. You can see more for yourself in the trailer, which I've embedded at the bottom of this story.

Thankfully, Papo & Yo will make its playable debut at E3, and now all that's left is for Patrick and myself to have a knife fight to determine who gets to go check it out.

Ok this sounds awesome.

Drugs are bad folks! That trailer was awesome though.

"Vander Caballero". That is a fannntastic name.

The game is graphically stunning. Love the way it looks. And the whole relationship symbolism thing is very nice. All in all, it looks promising.

Man, that looks pretty damn cool.

A surprising and brilliant example of tackling mature, important topics without disregarding the "fun" aspect of games.

Looks really good, and sounds neat.

Wow, a game about addiction? That could be very interesting. I am glad video games are taking on mature subject matter in creative ways.

"Monster is addicted to eating frogs, and when he eats them, he becomes a destructive terror" 
 
Yikes! This is cool and everything, but man does this not so subtle drug refrence make me uncomfortable.

Amazing idea. Can't wait to see more, that trailer looks fantastic.

@EuanDewar said:

"CD Vander Caballero". That is a fannntastic name.

Er... CD is his job title, not part of his name.

@Enigma777: Yes I know but I feel the CD makes it more ridiculous.

I'm interested.

This could be pretty cool. Eager to see more.

"Papo & Yo" is a lot like "Papa & Yo" or "Father & I" in english.

Clever.

Sounds like it'll have a pretty good story given that it's written from personal experience.

It might have a Team ICO ending though, I am prepared to be saddened.

This looks awesome! Looking forward to see more of this game.

And for the second time in my life, I am kind of tempted to buy a PS3.

What an amazing concept.

Woooww!  I love the sound of this.  The art style, the fiction, the gameplay mirroring a message ... it all sounds very promising.

That looks awesome, I hope this game does well.

Papo y yo looks awesome, wish it was multiplatform.

I'll be picking up this game. This guy sounds like a video game auteur.

I think this game has an Anti-Frog Agenda.

I like frogs.

Knife fight between Alex and Patrick...next GBTNT

Helping some dude handle his daddy issues doesn't sound very appealing to me.  Of course, I might be more interested if I had any clue what the actual gameplay was about.
 
Nevermind, let's just fawn over it because it sounds artsy.

Sounds like a great idea. Hope the execution is as good as the idea.

Wow.. I had an idea for a game really similar to this a few weeks ago. I guess the creator and I are on similar wavelengths. Anyways, it looks pretty cool

Helping some dude handle his daddy issues doesn't sound very appealing to me.  Of course, I might be more interested if I had any clue what the actual gameplay was about.  Nevermind, let's just fawn over it because it sounds artsy.

@Deusoma said:

@Spoonman671 said:

Helping some dude handle his daddy issues doesn't sound very appealing to me. Of course, I might be more interested if I had any clue what the actual gameplay was about. Nevermind, let's just fawn over it because it sounds artsy.

Would you like a hug, friend Spoonman? I bet it'll make you feel better. :)

Yeah no kidding.

Very cool premise and approach. I love the vibe of the trailer -- somewhere between light-hearted quirk and something... unsettling. I would like to know more.

Eh, it`s written "Céu" (portuguese for heaven or sky) on the wall  yet the game's name is in spanish? It should be "Papo & Eu", I think. Papo could be understood as a slang for chatting or as the first person, present tense of the verb "papar". (Eu) papo = (I) eat. I also find it funny that the small yellow character in the trailer is named "Lula" since Brazil's former president was known for this nickname.

Ico in Spain!

looks cool.

maaaan that trailer got dark son.

Wow, beautiful.

I really like the name. This looks really neat.

man, this is pretty heavy.

Sounds like a Drug parable.

Interesting. Have to see more to make up my mind but the concept is great.

There was a sidequest in Chibi-Robo involving a honey-addicted Teddy Bear that got (relatively speaking) pretty dark.

Can't say that the gameplay they've shown looked that good. It's early though. But the concept sounds... interesting.

Kind of reminds me of Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, but set in South America. I've been loving MFK so far, so I'm definitely going to at least check this out.