Game EXP: PULMO (NS)

[Disclaimer:  I received a review key for PULMO through Keymailer, a third-party company that connects publishers and developers with content creators.  The game key was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that it be played, and content be created.  Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.] 

PULMO
Release Date: September 27, 2025
Systems: Windows, Nintendo Switch
Publisher: Sometimes You
Developers: Emil Ismaylov, & Denis Petrov
Time Spent: 1-1.9 Hours
Highlight Videos on YouTube

PULMO is an art game in the purest sense of the definition that Roger Ebert would shake his head at.  It's also a game about death, isolation, trauma, grief, hope, and as many interpretations as you could get from anyone playing.  But because it's art, it can also be perceived in any way you want.  Someone can tell you that you shouldn't feel a sense of wonder and awe while looking at any element of Hieronymous Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, and they would be wrong.  Someone can tell you that you shouldn't feel a sense of sadness while gazing into the eye of the Mona Lisa, and again, they would be wrong.  PULMO is a vehicle to play through an interpretation of various emotions that a lot of us go through during our lives, but how we express those emotions and how we interpret them can be an indivudualized experience.  Such was the case for me with PULMO.  

PULMO is a collection of about 10 semi-interactable title cards, followed by 10 playable scenes or vignettes, interconnected by 11 short animated sequences in a similar vein to the game.  Each scene is titled (in the scene selection) with names such as "Ego," "Border," "Pressure," and "Thesus."  Each of the animated sequences is also titled in the menu: "Diversity," Smallness," Uncertainty," and Insignificance."  These are the only kinds of hints the player receives as far as what each scene and animated sequence might be about, but as they're only viewable after you've completed the respective scene/animation, there is no influence on what the player's interpretation during the game.  And since the game could be played in a single sitting, I would be hard pressed for someone to constantly play a scene, exit back to the main menu to look at the Scene Selection or Memories section to be directed on how they think they should feel according to the titles.

I think I finished PULMO in two sittings in a single day, spending just over an hour from beginning to end.  Two scenes took me a silly amount of time.  In one scene, you have your featureless character with an umbrella out while it's raining, and after a few seconds, it starts raining bodies.  Your task is to walk down the screen and avoid the bodies as they rocket towards the ground.  You are given some warning as a shadow grows on the ground where they're going to land, so all you have to do is avoid the plummeting bodies.  This second, embarrassingly, took me 24 minutes.  After the handful of attempts, I thought maybe I was supposed to stand still, but that wasn't it.  I also thought maybe you could make it by taking a straight line down, but that wasn't it.  Turns out it was just good old-fashioned serpentine.  There's another section that took me 17 minutes to find a hidden and winding path in a large body of obscuring water.  So if you're a better gamer than I am, you could probably complete PULMO in about 30 minutes.

PULMO feels like it's the kind of game that would be perfect for a video game club.  A bunch of people play the game from start to finish, and then discuss it over your preferred beverage of choice.  I would 100% discuss this game further over a couple of drinks and a Switch to pull up reference material if I knew anyone else who has played it.*

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
And You Can Speak Your Mind