Pou from Zakeh studio launched in 2012 as a virtual pet following in the Tamagotchi tradition, just carried over to the touchscreen of a modern smartphone. The player takes care of an alien creature resembling a potato with big eyes — feeding it, bathing it, putting it to sleep, and playing with it through simple minigames, while Pou itself gradually grows, ages, and changes mood depending on how well and regularly it is cared for.
The controls are fully adapted to touch and require no reading at all: feeding happens by dragging food straight into its mouth, washing by dragging a sponge across its whole body, and individual minigames are controlled by simple tapping or tilting the phone from side to side. The simplicity and cute, universally understandable look with no need for text made Pou a hit across age groups and language regions alike, especially among small children and their parents.
The game was free to download with ads and offers of cosmetic add-ons, outfits, or room upgrades for real money, which was by then an already fairly common model for this type of constantly-returned-to virtual pet simulator. Despite its apparent simplicity, Pou maintained a long-term loyal player base thanks to regularly added content and new minigames. The absence of text and its language neutrality also let the game take root practically all over the world without needing localization.
Why play it: suited especially to younger players and fans of simple pet simulators who accept ads as a natural part of the free-to-play experience.
Game 239 of 363 for Mobil (iOS a Android)
