Like retro shooters, immersive sims are being developed almost entirely by smaller studios and developers who revel in creating systems-heavy projects to prioritize player freedom above all else. Most of these are on the serious side though, and Blendo Games aims to do the exact opposite with Skin Deep.
It’s a hilarious, endlessly entertaining, and fascinating take on the genre where you make a living saving one space cat at a time.
You take on the role of Nina Pasadena, a former assassin now working for an insurance company as an Insurance Commando. Each mission has her entering a starship and rescuing cats held hostage by space pirates. All of this makes sense, trust me. Skin Deep’s hilarious premise is only punctuated by its systems-driven gameplay where the world is reactive in ways you can never predict leading to constant instances of slapstick comedy.
To explain what I mean, I’ll describe a run and you be the judge.
M E O W
First off, one of the core mechanics of Skin Deep is the Zoom Lens ability which lets players observe different world objects. While a lot of these are interactive, some are notes and instructions that aren’t wasting your time but provide you with useful information about the different systems and items you can pick up or interact with.
As I deployed into the starship, the first thing I did was lift the fuse box for Windows, which unlocks all the windows in the starship. Now, why would I need to do that? Well, it’s because Nina has a third lung, and she can breathe in space, why else? Fuse boxes unlock different systems throughout the starship, so keeping an eye out for them is essential to attain a higher access level.
I couldn’t find the fuse box for vents yet, so those were inaccessible to me. Instead, I approached the Black Pepper machine, which gave me a pack of Black Pepper, as expected. Zooming into the black pepper confirmed that throwing it at enemies stuns them and causes them to sneeze.
Next, I saw an info station that gave me a dynamic look at the starship, its facilities, the location of named enemies, and the cat hostages. I found a note from Smiley, that there is gear to be found in one of the toilet stalls down low. Naturally, I went to the stall and crouched until I found a loose tile hiding a wire grenade.
In the next room, I threw Black Peper at Walter (one of the pirates), forcing him to sneeze uncontrollably. I pounced on him and rammed him into hand sanitizer, which created a flammable cloud as a result, and I took him out by ramming him into a drinking fountain next.
I stole his walkie-talkie, decapitated his Skull Saver, and ejected it into space through the trash chute. This is important because the Skull Saver revives enemies as part of their insurance policy if the Skull Saver is onboard. Duh!
I saved one cat using the cat key carelessly placed on a table and was off to save the next one. In the laundry, I threw the wire grenade at Doug, which broke the washing machines next to him, spilling soap on the floor, which I didn’t see.
I walked near him to throw Black Pepper but slipped on the same soap in the process. I lay there on the laundry floor, with Doug sneezing on me as I struggled to get up. Video gaming at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.
Pretty soon he’s no longer stunned, and I’m without a weapon. I scramble to find an empty tuna can to throw at him, but he ducks. I unscrew a bolt from under the table and throw that at Gladys who has entered the room as well, but it’s not enough.
They both open fire, and I initiate the “Auto-Defib”, which revives me, stunning both Doug and Gladys in the process.
I pounce on Doug and slam him into the washing machine, which spills the soap yet again, causing Gladys to slip, giving me the required time to pounce her as well. I take them both out thanks to my excellent pouncing and leading to hard objects technique and I eject their heads to throw out the trash.
I use the second key to rescue Smiley. Now, I have to find a way to enter space and get the cats to the escape pod. Instinctively, I jump into the same trash chute that I used to eject the Skull Savers.
I’m smelly, but I’m out. I approach the escape pod and save the cats from the Numb Bunch Pirate Crew.
All of this was under 10 minutes and I loved every second of it. Skin Deep has easily topped my list of the most anticipated games of the year and I had a smile plastered on my face throughout. Watching the cats escape with a MEOW audio effect is a sight to behold and I can’t wait for April 30, 2025, when Skin Deep launches on PC through Steam.
You can try out the demo for yourself as part of Steam Next Fest February 2025 as well as other FPS titles and cozy games!
Published: Feb 26, 2025 05:19 am