Pikmin 4 embraces the series’ hidden horror roots


A screenshot from the video game Pikmin 4.
Image: Nintendo

If you haven’t played a Pikmin game before, you might be surprised to learn that the series can get quite dark. Sure, it stars a bunch of adorable plant-like beings — the titular pikmin — who navigate a huge world full of similarly cute creatures. It’s bright and colorful in the way that Nintendo games tend to be. But it’s also pretty creepy at times, with unsettling enemies to go up against, dark caverns to explore, and the way the pikmin will throw themselves into battle, with hordes able to overwhelm and kill larger creatures, whose corpses they then cart off to be repurposed. Pikmin is light on the surface but darker the more you think about it — and the latest entry takes things a step further with a survival mode and some ghostly...

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