In somewhat of a running theme this month, I’m covering yet another project that is associated with a Youtuber that I wasn’t familiar with. This time it’s Chipflake: a story-time animation Youtuber in a vein similar to JaidenAnimations, or TheOdd1sOut. Though, in the case of Super Chipflake Ü, I believe development was primarily handled by the folks at SalsaShark Studios, with marketing being the focus for Chipflake.
Regardless, when I received an email about the Banjo-Kazooie inspired 3D Platformer, I knew I had to take a look.
Developer(s): SalsaShark Studios
Publisher(s): SalsaShark Studios
Release Date: January 18th, 2026
Released on: Nintendo Switch, Windows
Reviewed on: PC (Win)
Copy Provided by Publisher
As is likely evident from the attached trailer, and my lead into this review, Super Chipflake Ü is a very late-90s inspired venture. It’s a 3D Platformer where you play as an adorable mascot character, however you won’t spend all of your time collecting a bunch of macguffins. Instead, you’ll roam the land completing quests for various NPCs that are in need of assistance with the hope that you can locate the 5 essential ingredients to cook schnitzel.
Why schnitzel? It probably has something to do with Chipflake, and Salsashark Studios both currently residing in Germany. Honestly though, I get it: schnitzel is delicious.
Regardless, Super Chipflake Ü hits all of the right notes from its visuals, and sound-design to evoke the types of games that inspired it. There’s even one really cool bit of sound-design that I wanted to call out, which is how the game transitions between area specific tracks as players wander into said area. I wish more games did that as it adds a lot of character to the background music in a given game.
Though, I have to admit, this is where I’m going to drop the other shoe: I didn’t enjoy playing Chipflake all that much. The vibes were spot-on, but that couldn’t carry me through the tedium that was the mountain of fetch quests. And I do mean fetch quest in a literal sense as the majority of the game’s quests amount to fetching an item, and returning to whichever NPC requested said item. It’s exactly as fun as I just made it sound, and little if anything is done to help spice things up for players along the way.
The last bit about little being done to spice up the journey kind of taps into my other major bugbear with Chipflake: the almost non-existent platforming. The titular player character Chipflake only possesses a single jump, and a fixed running speed. This means that his movement is incredibly limited despite Platformers frequently being defined by their main character’s movement. As a direct result of this, most of the level design is limited (there’s a lotta straight roads), and isn’t all too fun to actually explore.
However, it’d be remiss of me to not mention a few mobility-centric unlocks that players can acquire throughout the game, but they don’t change much. The running shoes allow players to sprint, which greatly reduces the time (and tedium) of traveling, and the grappling hook opens up a few shortcuts. Unfortunately, neither really addresses how basic the player character’s movement feels, nor how uninteresting the world is to actually move around in.
That said, I will admit that Super Chipflake Ü is a little more fun to play following a recent update that allows players to use those aforementioned unlockable abilities while carrying quest items. Previously, you weren’t able to use the grappling hook, or running shoes while carrying items, which meant you were stuck with the default movement at (basically) all times.
Two things before we close out because I want to end on some more things that I think the game does well: it’s genuinely funny. I got the impression that SalsaShark was aiming for a light-hearted tone with Super Chipflake Ü, and I’d say they hit the mark. I didn’t laugh at every joke, but a few of them got a genuine chuckle out of me. Plus, the world is littered with what I assume are references to Chipflake cartoons. I didn’t get the reference, but some of the posters did make me laugh all the same.
Finally, this game runs so smoothly. There are no loading screens, and I never ran into a single performance hitch across my entire playtime. I get that Chipflake doesn’t look like the most graphically demanding game, but there are so many indie games (and demos) that I’ve run on my computer which cause it to scream like a jet engine. While playing Chipflake, I didn’t hear a peep. Y’all definitely have some talent for writing extremely efficient code, which is something I respect and appreciate.
Let’s not beat around the bush here: I don’t recommend Super Chipflake Ü. Spiritually it hits the right notes, but I did not enjoy playing it. The occasional humour was nice, but I found both the quest design, and platforming flat. Looking through the Steam reviews, I’m definitely in the minority, so maybe take a quick looksie through what other players who had a better time are saying before you make up your mind on the game. Though, for me, this was not my cup of tea.
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Frostilyte Writes 