'Pikmin 4' Is Beautiful. (But a Little Too Easy.)

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Pikmin (2001) is a perfect video game. In the Nintendo cult classic, you play as Olimar, a little guy no taller than a paperclip. He crash-lands on a mysterious planet—and his spaceship's parts fly all over the map. Due to limited air supply, Olimar has just 30 in-game days to repair the ship before he perishes. Luckily, he has some cute little helpers, who aid in his exploration—an even tinier plant species, called Pikmin.

Colored red, blue, and yellow, the quirky Pikmin possess varying skillsets, which create satisfying and challenging puzzles. You can toss Pikmin at enemies, ask them to build bridges, and carry heavy spaceship parts back to your base. Pikmin can also be completed in just 10 real-world hours. In our modern 150-plus-hour open-worldapalooza of a video game landscape, such a great, yet concise game? It's a lost art.

Don't get me wrong—I loved every second of my Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hibernation. But Pikmin teaches gamers an entirely different skill: time management, AKA "dandori," which roughly translates to "arrangement" in Japanese. According to Nintendo, Pikmin demands that players "a practice centered around planning things out in advance and working efficiently." This time crunch adds a true level of difficulty. Nabbing multiple spaceship parts within the same day makes you feel like a fun video game actually taught you how to multitask.

Pikmin 4, which debuts today, is not that game. Like most Nintendo titles of late, difficulty has been sidelined in favor of the experience. Nintendo's first Pikmin title in 10 years is years no different. Which isn't always a bad thing. Super Mario Odyssey isn't nearly as challenging as Super Mario Bros. 3, but it's still one of Nintendo's greatest titles of the last decade. Same goes for Tears of the Kingdom—which is arguably easier than Breath of the Wild, even though it elevates the playground of the franchise's first entry in just about every other way.

So, what happens when Pikmin 4 gets the make it beautiful, but easy makeover? Well, the game's lush landscape is certainly a beautiful sight. The maps are colorful and the camera lets you view the world from every angle. Plus, ordering around your little guys feels as streamlined as ever—and there are so many things to collect, that you may not even use some of the items at all. As a fan of the franchise, I will happily put 50-plus hours into Pikmin 4. But this is hardly the same kind of experience as its predecessors. Pikmin 4 is a collect-a-thon, a cozy farming game, and a completionist's checklist. There are Pikmin 2-style caves to explore, dozens of collectable sets, stranded castaways in need of a savior, a hub world where time stops, a cute dog named Oachi (all of your Pikmin can ride him!), and a new kind of glowing Pikmin, which only appear during tower-defense-like night excursions. It's Pikmin, yes, but the franchise's fourth entry is really Pikmin on vacation.

For all the preaching of dandori, you can waste an entire in-game day in Pikmin world. There are some challenging dandori battle side quests, but failing to effectively gather material and progress through the main game appears to have no major consequences. If you killed an entire day in Pikmin before, you knew that you had better come up with a plan for the next day. Now, there's no rush. Pikmin 4 still makes you return to base before nightfall, but it's totally fine if you spent all day following around a butterfly.

Now, this laid-back approach does have its advantages. Pikmin is now a more relaxing experience. I can wind down with my Pikmin adventures, and not feel like I'm in the kitchen from The Bear. I can safely farm my Pikmin, then venture into the world to complete tasks at my leisure. But those looking for a true challenge won't find it in Pikmin 4, at least not until they make significant progress. If you somehow lose all your Pikmin to an enemy—or waste an entire day, because you're mesmerized by how great the game looks—well, that's on you. The fourth Pikmin installment is clearly looking for a soft reboot aimed at a new generation gamers, with an emphasis on "soft."

For some gamers, they'll miss that true dandori test. But for everyone else, completing anything at all may feel like a little victory. Pikmin 4 still hits that completionist's dopamine rush—and no amount of cutesy, collect-them-all gameplay has ever turned me away.

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