PBJ – The Musical
By: Philipp Stollenmayer
One thing you can be sure of with a Philipp Stollenmayer game is that it will be memorable. Perhaps best known for Bacon – The Game, where you’re tasked with throwing pieces of bacon on increasingly absurd objects, Stollenmayer is also responsible for such gems as Sometimes You Die, supertype, Sticky Terms, Song of Bloom and the whimsical Kitty Q. Each of these games does something very different and stands out in its own right. This means that news of an upcoming game from the developer is always exciting. And that game that was just announced is PBJ – The Musical, an incredibly silly experience about the invention of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
It was made in collaboration with Lorraine Bowen, who he teamed up with previously for Kitty Q to make an earworm that was stuck in my head for a good while after playing the game. She wrote all the music for PBJ – The Musical, though the songs are sung by a cast of mostly children. The result — from what I’ve played so far — is absolutely adorable. It consists of ten acts in which different characters — such as a strawberry, a peanut or a cupcake — sing about their hopes and dreams while the player uses objects in the environment to push them around and guide them where they need to go.
Each act is made up of paper collages, all handmade out of things like vintage cookbook cutouts and real peanut butter and jelly. It’s delightfully quirky and I can’t wait to play through more of it. I have a video below of my playthrough of the first three acts if you want a taste of it, since it won’t be out until early 2025. Just keep in mind that it’s an early version of the game and the controls are still being fine-tuned. I’ll definitely share more gameplay and impressions closer to release. But for now, enjoy the video below and keep an eye on the official website for news of the full release.
