Skullmonkeys

Skullmonkeys is a platformer created by The Neverhood Inc., a studio famous for its unique claymation graphics, best known to players from the adventure game The Neverhood. The main hero, Klaymen, sets out on a mission to save his home planet from an army of evil skull-like monkeys led by the malevolent Klogg, making his way through a series of surreal, hand-modeled levels full of bizarre enemies and unexpected puzzles. The game's visual style, built on physically sculpted clay objects that were then scanned, gave it a truly unmistakable look that no other PlayStation title of the era could match, from oddly shaped enemies to organically feeling environments.

The gameplay combines classic jumping and projectile shooting with moments where the player controls their own projectile or rides unexpected vehicles inside the levels, giving the game's pace variety and surprising twists. The difficulty was on the higher side, the level design wasn't afraid to demand precise jump timing from the player, and the humor was just as absurd and dark as in the studio's previous titles, full of strange characters and unexpected situational gags. The soundtrack by Terry Scott Taylor rounded out the strange, dreamlike atmosphere of the whole game and, together with the visuals, created the impression that the player was moving through a living, handmade world.

Critics praised above all the originality of the visuals and the inventiveness of the levels, though some reviewers found the game frustrating at times due to its difficulty. Thanks to its strikingly distinctive style, Skullmonkeys became a cult favorite among platformer fans and is still cited today as an example of just how far a game's graphical identity could be pushed in the nineties. Despite its limited commercial success, it remains remembered as one of the strangest and most memorable titles on the entire console, valued by collectors and fans of unconventional art styles alike.

Why play it: For its unmistakably strange visuals and inventive levels — even with its occasionally frustrating difficulty, it's one of the most distinctive titles on the whole console.