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Halfbrick’s Bluey’s Quest For The Gold Pen takes the little Australian family that conquered living rooms and playgrounds and stretches them into a fuller videogame adventure on Nintendo’s Switch 2. The result is a game that better justifies a standalone release than the 2023 effort from Artax Games: more expansive, more playful and more faithful to the spirit of the show, even if it occasionally drifts into padding and repetition.
Gameplay
The core is a collectathon-adjacent platformer aimed squarely at younger players and families. Levels are built around recognisable locations from the TV series and are populated with simple puzzles, light platforming and an assortment of small activities that reward exploration with collectibles. Movement and controls are deliberately forgiving; challenges skew easy to accommodate preschool and early-primary-age children. That design choice pays off for the target audience, giving kids a sense of achievement without frustration.
Several of the game’s mechanics feel well considered. Tasks loop back into one another neatly, and the team has added more variety than the original Bluey title offered: there are more set pieces, more interactable toys and more minor objectives to discover. The game’s structure encourages revisits to earlier areas to unlock new bits and bobs, which bolsters playtime beyond a single pass-through.
Presentation
Graphically, Bluey’s Quest For The Gold Pen captures the show’s warm, hand-drawn charm while translating it into smooth 3D on Switch 2 hardware. Colours are vibrant, character models are recognisable and animation retains a cartoony expressiveness that will please young fans. Audio design leans heavily on familiar vocalisations and the show’s signature tone rather than lengthy dialogue, and the soundtrack complements the on-screen antics without ever overreaching.
Criticisms
The main shortcoming is repetition. Many objectives reduce to forage-and-return routines, and several mini-games are variants on the same idea. This repetition is unlikely to bother the youngest players, who tend to enjoy the act of collecting and completing tasks, but it will limit long-term appeal for older children and adult players. Pacing occasionally suffers when the game pads progression with fetch-style chores rather than introducing fresh mechanics.
Difficulty is intentionally low; seasoned platformer fans seeking a serious challenge will find little to bite into. The game’s family-first approach means creative ambition takes precedence over mechanical depth, which is a match for the licence but a limiting factor for wider engagement.
Verdict
Bluey’s Quest For The Gold Pen represents a clear step forward from the franchise’s first videogame outing. Halfbrick has delivered a more substantial, better-paced experience that leans into exploration and child-friendly design while retaining the show’s tone. The repetitive nature of some tasks holds the package back from being great for older players, but the title succeeds at what matters most for its audience: it is fun, accessible and recognisably Bluey.
Recommended for families and young fans of the series. Collectors and platformer veterans may find the appeal limited, but the game is likely to be a hit in households with children who already love Bluey’s imaginative play.