Teeto
Review
A very absorbing Kiwi platformer
by JamesWorcester
reviewed on PC
A Chance Encounter
My editor Will and I first met the team at Eat Pant Games around this time last year in 2025 at the New Zealand Game Dev Breakfast hosted by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise and NZ CODE - the New Zealand Centre of Digital Excellence designed to support the sustainable expansion of New Zealand's video game industry. We had a lovely informal chat with Mitch and Ellie about Teeto over tea and crumpets, and organised another informal interview with them at PAX Aus the following day that formed part of our yearly PAX Rising Indie Games Feature. It's always lovely to meet the local dev teams behind the games that we and our families enjoy, and nicer still when you can meet them for the first time midway through their development journey and have the privilege to cover the end result of that journey when their game finally releases.
A Golden Age
Teeto's inspirations and design philosophies will be immediately apparent to anyone that was lucky enough to experience the N64/PS1 golden age of 3D platformers. The collectathon roots of Spyro, Mario and Banjo are all on display, with the absorbing power of Kirby showcasing a wide variety of forms that can be absorbed from objects within each level. You play as the duo of the small plucky plushie white rabbit Nory and her blue blob creation T33 TO (Teeto) as they seek to rectify a disaster at Ace Laboratories. The disaster caused the disappearance of all humans, objects to gain sentience and led to the great awakening of the malevolent 'shadows'. Teeto is the counterbalance to the shadows and their opposite, and can absorb the characteristics of certain objects like a sponge.
As you go through levels - either solo or in co-op - and spend time in the hub world, you'll be jumping, rolling, gliding and smashing your way to collect three main things: Vionite crystals that will allow you to unlock future worlds to progress, stars as a form of currency, and most importantly you'll be collecting all the different varieties of Baby Michaels.
Baby Michaels
Baby Michael was an earlier blue blob experiment by Nory who replicated himself a million times, with each Michael now having a unique personality and sense of style. With an affinity to being collected by Teeto, these little blue buddies will come in handy throughout the game, but mostly they're unbelievably adorable and intrinsically motivating to collect. Some of my favourites include Just Vibing Michael, Chronically Online Michael, Spaghetti & Michaels, Existential Michael and Passive Aggressive Michael; which basically cover all states of being.
Colour of Gameplay
Controlling Teeto usually feels as responsive and natural as controlling Mario across his 3D series of games. It feels easy to jump, double jump, paraglide, attack and dodge roll for speed, and that momentum and movement is so important as in a platformer. Indeed, it is how you interact with the game and the world. Levels are largely like a playground sandbox of collectibles and bizarre loveable Kiwi-voiced friendly NPCs in a chilled-out adventure; although some of the later levels I certainly found challenging and struggled with not understanding the signposting of what to do or where to go next. The boss and on-rails levels certainly do spike the difficulty a fair amount and might make it quite hard for a younger or less dextrous person to progress.
The changing of forms really adds to Teeto as a platformer and probably makes the game as enjoyable as it is because of the variety of forms and powers you need and can switch to. Whether it's absorbing a flower for a vine grab, a bush to sneak past enemies, a rock to rock smash or fire to flamethrower amongst many others, the different forms allow you to solve different platforming puzzles and keep the entire adventure feeling fresh.
Humour and Vibes from Across the Pond
As colourful and whimsical as Kameo and Viva Pinata, the Kiwi vibes are strong with this one. From the dulcet tunes to the charmingly chill and weird animals and animated objects with their unique blend of humour, you're going to be taking Bing Bong to the top of a mountain because why not, meeting the cutest little berries who say very very depressing things in the most adorable way possible, and walking by animals podcasting about the game in the game. Teeto is colourful and engaging and mostly relaxing, and it is very very New Zealand.
A Cultural Export
And I think that's the thing, more than anything. Teeto is a tremendous example of why it's important for states and countries to value, promote and support creative endeavours and small development teams. This is what it's all about! I've never played a game that allowed me to glimpse into New Zealand culture and humour like Teeto does, whilst also being a fun platformer and just a fun time. Some of the levels show great satire and introspection and make you crack a smile because you understand what they're referencing, and it's all been achieved in a sincere game that you and the little people in your life can enjoy together.
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8.3
fun score
Pros
Kiwi humour and vibes. Colourful, fun and relaxing. The cute Baby Michaels and berries
Cons
Unclear signposting in some later levels, Difficulty spikes in boss and on-rail sections, Occasional bug that caused my left-trigger to no longer switch forms, requiring a level restart
