Diving into an Bizarre Steam Demo: Playing as a Piece of Feces in a Mission to Find the Toilet

Steam Next Fest is now live, and enthusiasts have discovered plenty of engaging independent titles. Yet, one is particularly notable for its unconventional concept. Named Unko Technica, this classic-feel side-scrolling game includes a hero that is actually a dung striving to make its way to a restroom. As a fun fact, "Unko" is Japanese for "poop."

How you interact is easy to grasp: you only need a one button to leap. In 150 challenges, you'll face tough enemies and visit a market to purchase skins for your dung hero.

Execute your jumps carefully, as a error requires restarting the level. Leap using air pockets to propel yourself to new heights, cross fragile platforms, and activate buttons to unlock new areas. Earn currency for buying tougher game content where things ramps up.

In terms of design, the game boasts vibrant stages and catchy background music. The retro graphics featuring morphing geometric shapes evokes memories of gamers of old favorites like Earthbound.

While it's tough to recall previous releases where you play as a piece of feces, video games frequently featured fecal matter. For example, in Death Stranding, you can make throwables from protagonist excrement. Examples include Palworld and Ark: Survival Evolved utilize manure as soil enrichment. Unsurprisingly, this theme shows up a lot in Obsidian's role-playing game The Stick of Truth.

Despite its goofy idea, Unko Technica has already received impressive accolades, like being named best at Bandai Namco's indie contest in 2023. A playable preview is available now on Steam, with the complete version set to debut on computers in the fall.