The Perfect Pencil

About

The Perfect Pencil is a single player platformer game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by Studio Cima and was released on January 29, 2026. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

The Perfect Pencil is a surreal action platformer which tells the tale of personal development and the psychology of fear. Join protagonist John as he awakens in a bizarre hand-drawn kingdom and comes face-to-face with the terrors that dwell in the last place he'd have thought to look... Embark on an emotional odyssey exploring the depths of an unfamiliar environment using protagonist John's …

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82%

Audience ScoreBased on 33 reviews

story15 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

Unique hand-drawn art style with visually stunning and symbolic biomes reflecting deep emotional themes.
Engaging narrative with thought-provoking characters and meaningful dialogue exploring mental health and human emotions.
Well-designed exploration with satisfying map mechanics, shortcuts alleviating backtracking, and creative boss fights.

Combat system feels sluggish and artificial due to restrictive healing mechanics and slow attack cadence.
Excessive dialogue and NPC interactions disrupt pacing; key story choices are unclear and can lock out endings or abilities without warning.
Technical issues such as game crashes, stuttering, inconvenient fast travel, and sparse save points lead to frustrating runbacks.

story
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
38%
10%
The Perfect Pencil features a deep, story-driven metroidvania narrative that explores themes of fear, shame, and mental struggles through a visually stunning, symbolic world. While its storytelling is praised for being immersive and meaningful, some find the narrative obtuse and confusing, with unclear endings and frequent NPC quests potentially overwhelming. Fans of rich, introspective plots will appreciate its depth, though those preferring straightforward gameplay might find the story challenging to follow.
- “The perfect pencil tackles some very serious subject matter, with the nature of fear, shame and the lengths to which people are willing to go in order to avoid discomfort being dominant themes that permeate nearly every aspect of the plot in interesting ways.”
- “One of the biggest strengths of the game is its storytelling: the story unfolds step by step, and you can only truly understand it by playing.”
- “The perfect pencil is a great metroidvania full of exploration, a rich story, and odd, hand-drawn characters that give the game a surreal feel you need to experience for yourself.”
- “The Perfect Pencil is the most confusing metroidvania I've ever played, with a completely nonsensical story, unclear endings, and gameplay systems that are obtuse, random, and hard to understand.”
- “Yes, the movement upgrades, a core aspect of a metroidvania, are locked behind a nonsensical story choice.”
- “Lengthy runbacks and storytelling can be a bit too obtuse, making it easy to get lost.”
gameplay
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
62%
14%
The gameplay of The Perfect Pencil is divisive, with some praising its smooth and balanced combat, creative enemy design, and engaging risk-reward healing mechanic, while others find it confusing, frustrating, and hampered by annoying mechanics like lack of invincibility frames and frequent knockbacks. Exploration and combat are generally enjoyable but sometimes disrupted by repetitive dialogue and intrusive mechanics. Overall, it follows a familiar metroidvania formula with unique elements that some players find rewarding, though others feel the gameplay occasionally takes a backseat to narrative.
- “Art is amazing, gameplay is very enjoyable and narrative themes are super interesting!”
- “So far, the gameplay feels well balanced, not too hard or frustrating, but not too easy or boring either.”
- “Gameplay is smooth: combat and exploration feel nice and they are not too taxing so you can easily focus on the story and the characters.”
- “The Perfect Pencil is the most confusing metroidvania I've ever played, featuring a nonsensical story with unclear endings and gameplay systems that are obtuse, random, and hard to understand.”
- “This single mechanic ruins the otherwise decent combat since you get hit easily and often—the dash has no invincibility frames and there's contact damage. You also get knocked back very far when taking damage, making enemies a nuisance during exploration.”
- “Most bosses love to teleport all over the place, often right on top of you, dealing contact damage. Combat as a whole is frustrating because of this, further compounded by two of the least favorite mechanics: corpse running and runbacks.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is quirky, deadpan, and casually hilarious, providing a refreshing and lighthearted contrast to its deep and serious narrative themes. It blends well with the story, enhancing the overall experience without detracting from the game's emotional depth. Fans of English humor and narrative-driven metroidvanias will particularly appreciate this aspect.
- “It's casually hilarious in wild ways, while still maintaining its deep themes.”
- “The game deals with serious topics but surprisingly has quite a lot of deadpan humor sprinkled throughout the dialogues.”
- “It is obviously very Hollow Knight inspired but I'm very surprised, didn't expect this level of polish. I absolutely recommend this game if you love metroidvanias, English humor, and gorgeous hand-drawn graphics!”
graphics
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The graphics are praised for their unique, beautifully hand-drawn art style with polished and carefully crafted visuals that evoke a Hollow Knight-inspired aesthetic. While some find the deliberate ugliness off-putting, most appreciate the quirky, polished art direction and smooth controls, enhancing the overall engaging experience.
- “I’ve played for 68 minutes so far and I was immediately hooked by the visuals — the art direction is incredibly polished and clearly crafted with obsessive care.”
- “It is obviously very Hollow Knight inspired but I'm very surprised, didn't expect this level of polish. I absolutely recommend this game if you love Metroidvanias, English humor, and gorgeous hand-drawn graphics!”
- “The visuals are unique and distinct, deliberately designed to be ugly in a very intentional manner.”
- “The visuals are unique and distinct but they were ugly though, in a very deliberate manner.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music and sound design effectively enhance the game's atmosphere, offering both somber and uplifting tones. However, opinions vary, with some finding the soundtrack well-developed and immersive, while others consider it odd or average, sometimes likening it to simplistic flash game tunes.
- “Art and music are gorgeous and controls are nice and responsive.”
- “I also play with Rig 500 Pro headphones for better immersion, and it’s absolutely worth it — the sound design and music are very well developed and add a lot to the atmosphere.”
- “The music and sound design colorfully weave the story's themes; somber and uplifting.”
- “Same goes for the music which was just odd. It fit the game for sure, but that didn't make it pleasant to listen to.”
- “My biggest complaint is that the soundtrack is painfully average to below average and sounds like a Newgrounds flash game at times.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a heartfelt and meaningful narrative that resonates with many players, effectively portraying emotional struggles and character growth. While gameplay occasionally takes a backseat, its smooth controls, charming humor, and beautiful art style enhance the touching and memorable experience.
- “All in all, The Perfect Pencil is a worthwhile game that boasts a very emotional and meaningful narrative, even if gameplay sometimes takes a backseat in favor of it.”
- “I'm sure many people are relating to the portrayals of struggle themed throughout this game and the significance of each character during emotional states, as well as the formula for moving past them.”
- “The Perfect Pencil controls smoothly (Xbox controller), has refreshing music video elements, quirky humor, beautiful art style, an interesting menu, and despite the somber setup, is a lovely, touching story to experience.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users praise the game for its enjoyable story and unique, diverse character designs, highlighting the strong atmosphere created through its art and character development.
- “Story has been quite enjoyable and I love the character designs.”
- “I absolutely love the atmosphere and the unique character design.”
- “The art and character design are great and very diverse.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is highly praised for its unique art style, immersive sound design, and captivating music, which together create an enchanting and emotionally resonant experience. Players also appreciate the thoughtful exploration of mental health themes, adding depth to the game's ambiance.
- “I absolutely love the atmosphere and the unique character design.”
- “I also play with Rig 500 Pro headphones for better immersion, and it’s absolutely worth it — the sound design and music are very well developed and add a lot to the atmosphere.”
- “This game is so enchanting from the beginning, the art is unique and the atmosphere is endearing. It also addresses mental health issues, a theme very close to my heart, so I'm curious to see where the story goes!”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is somewhat tedious due to slow travel unlocks and cumbersome fast travel mechanics, but exploration rewards players with shortcuts that help reduce travel time and alleviate backtracking frustration.
- “Not like the fast travel is that useful anyways, as first of all it only unlocks after like 10 hours and is annoyingly tedious to use.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The optimization is generally acceptable but has some performance issues, including minor FPS drops and occasional stuttering. These problems are noticeable but not severely detrimental to gameplay.
- “What didn't work sufficiently though was the performance; I had a few minor FPS drops, but that can be forgiven.”
- “I also experienced some issues with stuttering.”

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79%Critics’ scoreBased on 5 critic reviews

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The Perfect Pencil
€24.99
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15h Median play time

15h Average play time

15-15h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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The surreal psychological platformer, The Perfect Pencil, is out now for PC and the Switch

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Perfect Pencil is a platformer game with horror and mystery themes.

The Perfect Pencil is available on PC, Steam Deck and Windows.

On average players spend around 15 hours playing The Perfect Pencil.

The Perfect Pencil was released on January 29, 2026.

The Perfect Pencil was developed by Studio Cima.

The Perfect Pencil has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked The Perfect Pencil for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

The Perfect Pencil is a single player game.

Similar games include Constance, MIO: Memories in Orbit, Aestik, Voidwrought, Winds Of Arcana: Ruination and others.

The Perfect Pencil

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