The team behind the Tiny Game Chronicles podcast takes a look at a game they covered in a previous month’s episode. For April, Marcus delves into Pony Island by following their usual podcast format. Subscribe to The Tiny Game Chronicles podcast for their fortnightly episodes on short-form video games, and please make sure to check out the accompanying episode to this article on Pony Island.
My first few minutes playing Daniel Mullins’ 2016 debut game, Pony Island, did not get off to a good start. Not only did I have to message my Tiny Game Chronicles co-host, Michael, to ask for the solution to one of the first puzzles in the game, but in order to solve it, I had to awkwardly hold down the ‘x’ button on my Steam Deck while using my right hand to manipulate the left analogue stick. Not a great first impression, especially when its sequel, due out (hopefully) later this year, is one I’ve had my eye on for some time.
As an aside, there are two things to know about my gaming habits: 1) I’m a console gamer through and through. As such, I typically avoid keyboard and mouse games at all costs, and 2) my skills for solving obscure, fourth-wall-breaking puzzles leave much to be desired.
But Michael cautioned patience and strongly recommended I move over to playing on my laptop. I reluctantly agreed, and I’m glad that I did. I particularly enjoyed seeing the same DNA of Mullins’ later games, particularly Inscryption, present throughout my playthrough.
High-Level Thoughts
Overall, it’s fair to say while I enjoyed it, it was still somewhat of an unusual experience playing a game like Pony Island for the first time in 2026. Because of its success, including the developer’s own subsequent titles, numerous other games have emulated its novel story-telling and gameplay mechanics, which probably lessened its impact for me.
The brief time I spent with it on Steam Deck was not good. There are sections within the game requiring you to type on a keyboard, as well as highlighting and dragging icons around the screen. To be generous, doing so is incredibly awkward on the Steam Deck. In truth, this game has no business being listed as Steam Deck Verified. I cannot implore readers strongly enough to play it on their PCs as it was originally designed.
I will note that Pony Island is one of those games where people say, “the less you know about it before you play, the better”. I tend to agree with that sentiment, but it’s pretty hard to review a game and not actually say anything about it, so you can expect the lightest of spoilers to follow.
Pony Island Standouts
The first standout was the game’s varied gameplay mechanics. The game never asks you to spend too much time doing any one thing, which makes the pacing a huge strength of this game. The bulk of the gameplay alternates between an endless runner, where you play as a pony that starts with the lone ability to jump, and logic-based programming puzzles. The endless runner sections eventually introduce the ability to shoot lasers to kill enemies and glide over larger obstacles on your way to a Super Mario Brothers-esque flagpole at the end of the level. I found these sections a little awkward to control with keyboard and mouse, but I expect this is owing to my lack of experience playing games this way. Even so, it never took me more than a handful of attempts to get through the most challenging parts.
I quite enjoyed the game’s programming puzzles. They work by showing the player a handful of lines of code across three columns. The goal is to ensure the code can be read from top to bottom, sometimes needing to satisfy certain criteria to proceed. You do this by inserting puzzle piece-like programming functions into the missing lines of code, such as shifting to a different column or creating a recurring loop. I did end up brute-forcing my way through one of the game’s final puzzles, but otherwise they never got too complicated for my usual anti-puzzle brain.
The next standout was how the game provided a heavy dose of subversion and fourth-wall breaking throughout its narrative. This is something Mullins has become known for in the games he makes, and it was out in full force in his debut offering. To give an early example, you start Pony Island facing an in-game arcade cabinet featuring a game – also called Pony Island – with a familiar Start Game, Options & Help and Credits screen. However, you get an error when you click on Start Game. The only option remaining is to try Options and Help. Here you begin to get a glimpse of Mullins’ sense of humour and design philosophy.
Among the more typical options of toggling on/off aliasing or in-app purchases, you can also turn on Pony Physics, a Cheerful Facade or Obscure Options. Lo and behold, among your choices there’s also an option to Fix The Start Menu. Once you toggle that on, make your way back to that initial screen; you can finally begin the game. There are many more examples over the game’s roughly 3-hour runtime, including one incident towards the end of the game that had me in a brief state of panic, but in the interest of minimising spoilers, I’ll stop here.
The third and final standout was the unusual inclusion of a set of collectibles, in the form of tickets, found by exploring your environments both in and out of the Pony Island arcade game. Collecting all 24 tickets is necessary to obtain the game’s true ending. At first, including a set of collectibles seemed at odds with Mullins’ clear desire to buck gaming conventions, but like most things in Pony Island, even this choice is open for interpretation. I decided early on I wouldn’t go too far out of my way searching for tickets, as I was afraid I may run into some of those pesky fourth-wall-breaking puzzles, which meant I only found 3 of them during my playthrough. In speaking with Michael afterwards, it appears my fears were unfounded, so perhaps one day I’ll go back to the game to explore a little more thoroughly?
While not a standout per se, I’d be remiss not to comment briefly on Pony Island’s presentation. Graphically, it is much as you’d expect a low-budget PC game from a decade ago to look – simple, pixelated and with a limited colour palette. That’s mostly not a bad thing, as it meshes with the game’s premise of the in-game Pony Island being unfinished, although due to this simplistic presentation, there were times when I struggled to know what on the screen I was supposed to interact with. The soundtrack was relatively small but had several bangers. Across the game’s 10 or so tracks, composer Jonah Senzel does a phenomenal job mixing upbeat lullabies with more intense gothic tracks that you’d be forgiven for thinking were taken straight from a classic Castlevania game.
Who Do I Recommend This To?
Upon rolling credits for Pony Island, I sat staring at my computer screen for a few minutes, reflecting on what I had just experienced. It’s a game that’s obtuse at times; it’s not especially fun to play, but it lingers. If that sounds appealing, I would give it a hearty recommendation. I’d also recommend the game to those who enjoy seeing the origins of celebrated developers. The experience of playing Pony Island is not unlike going back to an early Kojima or Miyazaki game, albeit on a much smaller scale. I suspect the way that it subverts expectations isn’t quite as mind-blowing as it would have been in 2016, but it’s still a game that surprises and perhaps, more importantly, has something to say. Just keep your expectations in check (and DO NOT attempt to play it on a Steam Deck!)
