McPixel

McPixel is an independently produced puzzle video game by Polish developer Mikołaj Kamiński (also known as Sos Sosowski) in 2012.

McPixel
Platform(s)Windows
Mac OS X
Linux
iOS
Android
Release
  • WW: 25 June 2012
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)

Gameplay

The game centers around the title character, McPixel,[1] who is a parody of both MacGyver[2] and his other parody, MacGruber.[3] The game features numerous references to popular culture characters.

McPixel's objective in the game is to defuse bombs or "save the day" in 20 seconds each level.[4][5] There are four chapters in the game, each with three levels and an unlockable level. Each level contains six sequences. The puzzle solutions are often absurdist and nonsensical, using cartoon-style physics and logic; typical interactions with people and objects involve McPixel kicking them, and directly kicking the bomb often causes it to explode. In one level, to stop a fire from reaching a bomb, the player may have to get McPixel to urinate on it; in another level, McPixel may have to feed a bomb to another person, causing it to explode inside their stomach and protecting the surroundings from destruction.[6]

Release and reception

The game was released on 25 June 2012 for Android and iPhone and as a computer game.

McPixel received positive reviews, with a critic score of 76/100 on Metacritic for the PC version,[8] and 83/100 critic score for the iOS version.[9] The Verge gave the game a score of 8 out of 10, stating "McPixel is the step further, a parody of a parody. But it's stranger, grosser, funnier and far more blasphemous."[1]

The game's creator and developer, Mikolaj "Sos" Kamiński, said: "The largest force driving attention to McPixel at that time were 'Let's Play' videos. Mostly by Jesse Cox and PewDiePie."[11] Sos promoted the distribution of his game on The Pirate Bay to market it.[12][13] He found out that McPixel was being torrented from a Reddit post.[14] Due to this event, McPixel became the first game ever to be endorsed by the Pirate Bay.[15]

As of September 2012, McPixel had sold 3,056 copies.[16] The game was also the first game to be released via Steam Greenlight.[17]

During August 15–22, 2013, McPixel featured alongside four other games in the Humble Bundle Weekly Sale ("Hosted by PewDiePie"), which sold 189,927 units.

As of October 2013, a Linux version exists, but is not yet available on Steam. Kamiński has stated on the Steam Forums that this is because the Adobe Air run-time can not be distributed via Steam. To fix this and other issues, Kamiński has stated that he intended to rewrite the game engine to not use Adobe Air. Kamiński announced the rewrite in June 2013, writing that he hoped to be done by September 2013, though there had been no news as of September 2014.[18] As of June 2019, the Linux version is not on Steam, however Proton can be used to run the game.

Sequel

A sequel titled McPixel 3 was announced on 17 February 2022 and released on 14 November 2022.[19][20]

References
  1. Chris Plante (August 31, 2012). "McPixel (iOS) review – 20 seconds to save the world". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  2. Lucas M. Thomas (August 28, 2012). "App Store Update: August 28". IGN. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  3. Mikolaj Kamiński (August 18, 2012). "McPixel Player's Guide: Fun Facts". Sos. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  4. Chelsea Stark (September 1, 2012). "5 Games You Should Play This Weekend". Mashable. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  5. Kirk Hamilton (June 26, 2012). "Save The World 20 Seconds At A Time, Mostly By Kicking Things In The Crotch". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  6. Evan Narcisse (August 30, 2012). "Gaming App Of The Day: This Game Blows You Up Three Times In One Minute". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  7. "McPixel at Game Rankings". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  8. "McPixel Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  9. "McPixel Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  10. Christian Donlan (11 July 2012). "Eurogamer McPixel Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  11. Jeffrey Matulef (November 22, 2012). "Steam Greenlight: Is it working?". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
  12. Kyle Orland (September 7, 2012). "How one game developer is making The Pirate Bay work for him". ArsTechnica. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  13. William Usher (September 8, 2012). "McPixel Dev Joins Pirate Bay To Give His Game Away For Free". Cinema Blend. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  14. Mike Fahey (September 7, 2012). "The World's Most Infamous Piracy Website Wants You to Buy This Video Game". Kotaku. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  15. Jeffrey Matulef (September 8, 2012). "McPixel is the first game endorsed by The Pirate Bay following dev's support". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  16. Patrick Klepek (September 13, 2012). "McPixel Embraced Piracy, Lived to Tell the Tale". Giant Bomb. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  17. Mark Raby (September 27, 2012). "McPixel becomes first Steam Greenlight title". Geek. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  18. Sos Sosowski. "Will the Linux version be available from Steam?". McPixel Steam forum. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
  19. McPixel 3 | Coming 2022, retrieved 2022-02-17
  20. "McPixel 3 on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
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