Tsugunohi: Pocky’s Dog Adventure is a mouthful of a title, but the barest taste of a game. With a twenty-minute playtime and a story that never really gets started, expect to leave feeling unsatisfied.

This game is about the dog, Pocky, who is the pet of Pocky the Japanese YouTuber. In the game, all you do is click the left side of the screen (not press left, like the description says), and about twice you have to click the top of the screen. There are no dialogue choices, no branching paths, no way to fail. Even calling it a visual novel would be too generous; Tsugunohi is more like a short animation that you progress by clicking.

Horror elements are almost nil (the jumpscares were so lackluster I mostly missed them) and the story didn’t have much to it. There’s a ghost girl that interacts with Pocky the dog, and then Pocky the YouTuber talks about what happened. The game tries to incorporate a twist, but with such a short playtime and a main character that can’t talk, I mostly feelt bewildered.

The only way I could really recommend this game is if you were a die-hard Pocky the Youtuber fan, and you wanted to know more about his origin story. Or at least see some cute pictures of his dog.

If you want to see my full playthrough and hear more of my thoughts, visit: https://youtu.be/WwyFcMm_YzY

Unfortunately, this is probably the worst Tsugunohi game. The premise is that you play as Pocky, the pet dog of the YouTuber of the same name. While this is probably a neat piece of fanservice for fans of this YouTuber, I should note that I'd never heard of him. While the other VTuber/YouTuber collaboration entries are generally not as good as the 10 main games, Ai's Silent Cries did manage to unnerve, particularly once the "hexed" day arrived.

Alas, this game is simply not scary in any way. There are astonishingly few jumpscares - a staple of the series! - and the story is too brief to leave any impression. Normally, Tsugunohi games build to their climax over a number of "days", each becomingly increasingly twisted. Here, the game jumps straight to the climax within 5 minutes, with no build-up of tension to accompany it. The environments do look nice, however.

Not recommended unless you're a fan of the YouTuber in question. Stick to the main games, particularly games such as Supernatural Supermarket or The Call from Showa.

ImCyan and VGM has blessed us with another Tsugunohi Gem. Thank you. https://youtu.be/BbACzSyRU9Q?si=-sPGJYDxuLGkRCRP