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Papo & Yo
Monster is your best friend. Until he eats a frog. A game about loving a parent who drinks. 🐸
Who it's for
Papo & Yo is one of very few games deliberately built as an allegory of growing up with an alcoholic, abusive father; its designer, Vander Caballero, based it on his own childhood.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Papo & Yo is a puzzle-adventure game developed and published by Minority Media, released on PlayStation 3 in 2012. Hiding from his abusive, alcoholic father, the boy Quico finds a chalk mark that carries him into a dreamlike favela, where he can reshape buildings by pulling out stairs, lifting boxes and making shacks grow legs.
Where to find it
Steam (Windows, macOS, Linux) and PlayStation Store (PS3; availability varies).
Before you start
Heads up: Parental alcoholism and domestic abuse.
Age: ESRB E10+; PEGI 12 (Steam listing). Suggested 12+, ideally with support for survivors of family abuse
