A great way to get the attention of bored games writers is to make your game trailer so hysterically absurd that they can’t help but share it. So it was with Pull Stay, the game I called a “fountain of Japanese slapstick” back in 2020 when its trailer was probably the most ridiculous game trailer you’d watched that week. Following a successful Kickstarter and subsequent development, Pull Stay has now brought its antics to Steam in early access.
A fusion of beat ’em up and tower defense, Pull Stay casts you as an autonomous robot, Robo, whose job is to keep people from bothering its shut-in master, Susumu. You’ll do that by building goofy defenses and engaging in some classic beat ’em up combat along the way.
Defenses I’ve seen include: Spring-loaded pie launcher, whipping robot, giant toothpaste tube, watermelon bazooka, and something very nefarious involving a rubber duckie. How do you build these traps? By demolishing the neighbors’ houses for loot, obviously.
Defeating new enemy types in Pull Stay gives you their moves, which lets you ever-more-successfuly put the hurt on bad guys. Robo’s initial punches and kicks quickly turn to lightsaber strikes, flying uppercuts, fiery rushing attacks, and turning into a horrific one-eyed pac-man thing with human teeth that feasts on flesh.
You can find Pull Stay on Steam, where it’s $17, though there’s a 10% off sale until March 4.
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