Doronko Wanko

Doronko Wanko (lit. "Muddy Dog") is a game I had seen pop up a few times in my Steam Recommended, but didn’t really explore any further because I wasn’t sure what to expect. After actually exploring the page recently, I thought it actually sounded interesting enough to try, especially after learning Bandai Namco developed it and helped by the fact it was free. While the game itself isn’t very long, I found myself having a great time with it and wanting more like it.

A family has moved into a new home and are preparing for a housewarming party to celebrate. You take control of the family dog, a Pomeranian, and it is your job to make the house as much of a mess as possible while most of your masters are away and the other is asleep.

 

You are a Pomeranian. Go make a mess.

The gameplay consists of running around the house to make it as messy as possible, while also doing as much monetary damage as possible (the latter of which oddly reminded me of Whiplash). You start off already covered in mud, which you can spread by shaking and rolling around in it, but activating robot vacuums and destroying objects such as tomatoes, soup, paint and wine (among various other things) open up a lot more options for causing mayhem. You can even jump around to reach higher places, opening up even further opportunities, as well as put on hats found around the house to customize the Pomeranian. Causing enough damage unlocks gifts, some of which can unlock even further places to reach or even help spread dirt automatically in increasingly humorous ways. This gameplay loop is further encouraged by the ultimate goal of spreading enough dirt to reveal 12 hidden dog faces around the environment, opening a door to a secret room and the ending of the game.

 

It gets crazier than this.

 

The bright colors and art style perfectly capture the game’s highly comedic tone, making the more ridiculous aspects of it not feel out of place as they occur and making it even more fun to make a mess. The sound design ties in well with this, with lighthearted music and Pomeranian barks contrasting the chaos around it.

While lacking dialogue, the game uses on-screen text to communicate information to the player. However, it should be noted that the in-game language defaults to Japanese, with English needing to be selected from the options menu in the pause screen. The English version contains a few typos here and there, but it is otherwise a perfect translation.

 

The Options menu is the third option when you pause.

If you’re looking to cause a bit of chaos, Doronko Wanko is a short, yet fun way to do so. Since it’s available for free, there’s really no reason not to give it a try.