You command a swarm of tiny plant creatures around a garden that feels gigantic because you are only a few inches tall. You whistle them into a group and throw them at obstacles, so twenty of them carry a dropped battery home while others knock down a wall. Days are on a timer and any stragglers left outside at sunset get eaten, which makes planning your route genuinely tense in a gentle way.
Gameplay video
More Pikmin 4 gameplay on YouTube →Ready to play Pikmin 4?
Grab a physical or digital copy from Amazon — prices and availability update live.
This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Screenshots & review notes
The verdict
Nintendo finally gave this underappreciated series the budget and polish it deserved, and the result is warmer and more approachable than ever.
The mechanics
Oatchi the rescue dog smooths out a lot of prior frustrations, letting you multitask squads more freely without losing the tense day-and-night structure.
Presentation
The dandelion-fluff scale of everything still charms, and the lighting during dusk sequences might be some of the prettiest work on the Switch.
Staying power
Its bite-sized missions and low difficulty ceiling make it perfect for newcomers, while dandori challenges give veterans something to optimize for hours after the credits roll.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You are a tiny explorer, a couple of inches tall, crash-landed in what turns out to be somebody's back garden, so a puddle is a lake and a discarded battery is treasure. You command a swarm of small plant creatures that follow you around in a crowd. You whistle to gather them up and throw them, one at a time or in a stream, at whatever needs dealing with, and they get on with it while you go do something else.
Everything is about splitting your attention. Twenty of them can carry a dropped can back to your ship while another group knocks down a cardboard wall and a third fights off a beetle. Different colored creatures have different traits, some survive fire, some can swim, some fly, so choosing who to throw at what matters. You also have a rescue dog who can carry you across water, charge into enemies, and dig. Get it wrong and your little helpers drown or get eaten right in front of you, which the game makes surprisingly upsetting.
Each in-game day runs on a timer, and when the sun sets anything left outside your ship is eaten overnight, so there is a real deadline to every expedition. That sounds stressful, but this entry is the gentlest in the series. You can rewind time when a plan goes wrong, the tutorial is patient, and there is no overall deadline pushing you. It is a strategy game that feels relaxing, and it is genuinely good for people who normally find strategy games intimidating.