Not too long after we got him, my dog Casper zoomed out of our front door and I had to chase after him. My outstretched hand couldn’t reach him in time before he escaped to the wider world. Instead, that hand met our screen door that came crashing to a close, leaving a scar between my index and middle fingers. I was only nine, and didn’t realize I was bleeding as I ran after Casper through neighbors’ muddy backyards, worried about what would happen if I never caught up to the pup. I did, thankfully, and the little shit never escaped my sight again.
Finding Polka feels a lot like that moment. Lidlocks’ three-hour exploration game finds a dog owner chasing after her pup, except she runs through Where’s Waldo?-like environments and not around houses on the cul-de-sac. It’s a relaxing and humorous game that dog owners will relate to.
One day, Frendy is out walking her Dachshund Jazz. She thinks she spies Polka, her childhood French Bulldog, and, over the course of more than two dozen levels, each one zanier than the last, Frendy and Jazz chase after Polka. They track Polka by following a trail of pee puddles and poos, of course. Smelly, smelly poos.
Each level is beautifully hand-drawn and filled to the brim with hilarious characters and moments. Wandering through a farm, I find a person-sized pig. Stand too close, and the pig reveals itself to be an alien wearing a pig costume. In another level, I find a gym bro practicing his Kamehameha pose and later enjoy the tunes of a band where each member is an Elvis impersonator.
Finding Polka is like a Where’s Waldo? book in video game form. Yes, you’re supposed to be finding Waldo, but half the fun is seeing what else is hidden on the pages. In Finding Polka, the narrative framework may incite a desire to rush — Polka is constantly on the move, after all — but taking your time is the way to go. Joy comes from stopping to smell the roses and seeing what little weird guys are hanging around.
There’s more to do than just walk around and explore, too. Finding Polka has plenty of very simple and optional side activities, like delivering items for people (and earning a high five in return). In one level, I grab a staff for a man who turns out to be Sun Wukong; he hops on his flying cloud and occasionally zooms around the level in the skies above me.
You can enjoy minigames too, like a soccer shootout or a quick game of volleyball. There are hidden ninjas to discover, and finding a girl and her giant panda friend will earn you polaroid photos of a real-world pup who I assume is the inspiration behind Polka. Like a dog wandering a boardwalk, sniffing ankles and searching for fallen food, I’m never lacking for distraction.
Beneath Finding Polka’s hand-drawn black-and-white illustrations are layers of emotional depth. Frendy is chasing after her childhood pup, and Frendy is no longer a child — you can put two and two together. Finding Polka never quite devastates me like fellow dog game Neva did, but it does feature an appropriately melancholy ending.
Exploring what Finding Polka has to offer is to chase after your runaway dog through the pages of a carefully crafted sketchbook with surprises around every corner. It’s filled to the brim with imagination, creativity, and humor. And dogs. Lots of good dogs.
Finding Polka is out now for Windows PC.
