KinitoPET is a game that released on Steam in January of 2024, and
since then it has kept an overall review score of 'Very Positive'. When I
first found out about the game, I immediately bought it (although I'm
not good at handling horror). I 100%ed it, and got about 4 hours of play
time out of it. Is it worth the six dollars that it costs? Absolutely, and here's why.
A game that uses the well-known status of Bonzi Buddy, thanks to Vargskelethor Joel's Windows destruction streams, is already well set up for success. The premise of the game is that you play in a kind of virtual machine, you're bombarded with popups, and are forced to install KinitoPET. Would you like a friend? Of course you would.
The game is, at it's core, an immersive simulator. It's also a horror game, containing a fair amount of jumpscares, including unique ones that break the fourth wall in ways that I haven't seen before. For someone like me, who is incredibly bothered by horror, I knew that this was a game where I would have to suck it up and play it anyway. Especially after it essentially swept my corner of the internet with claims that it was doxxing streamers. I had to know what it was all about, especially because I'm greatly enamored with software and how it works.
The game starts, you're forced to download KinitoPET, you fill out some information, and you're enslaved to help KinitoPET's friends with basic minigames. You help clean Sam's house, which is where the scares begin. Then, you help Jade put together some basic things. Here, if you happen to click on the liver(?) that is one of the options during Jade's minigame, the game will make use of your second monitor (if applicable). Already, we're seeing some fourth-wall breaking that is, in my opinion, rather unique.
Afterward, you 'play' Hide and Seek with KinitoPET. The game takes a totally different art direction, transforming into a gritty, dark, 3D space. As far as I know, the only way this game really ends is you being caught. After the game crashes and reboots, he apologizes and states that the game will be better.
Then, you do a 'friend analyzer' portion. He asks you who your best friend is (and if you don't say him, he won't let you continue). He then asks you to draw a bunch of pictures, and he asks you questions like 'Where would you like to live? In which season? What would you name your pet, if you had to name one?'
At this point, he says that you two are such good friends... So, can he see your face? It doesn't matter what you answer, if you aren't in Streamer mode he'll turn on your camera and open the application while the background glitches out. He then asks questions such as 'Are you alone? Do you have a mirror near you? Are you aware of your surroundings? Are you afraid of the dark? Would you like to find out?'
The game then goes 3D again, and the scene is the player lying in bed in a dark room. KinitoPET slowly gets closer and closer to the player, before jumpscaring you and closing the game. When it restarts, he asks you to join the Kinito Friend's Club. If you put an actual email in, you'll get an email about the club outside of the game. If you input your location incorrectly, outside of streamer mode, KinitoPET will open your computer's search and look up where you live. For me, it didn't show my EXACT location, but rather the town I live in. He won't do this if you're in streamer mode. Instead, he'll look something else up and say something along the lines of 'But just so you know, I could.'
The game gained a lot of notoriety for this part. Multiple people, from what I saw, were unhappy with this. They said that it doxxed them to their friends on Discord, and I've heard rumors of VTubers being doxxed through this. I'm not sure if it was added in response to this, or if it was always there, but the beginning of the game does tell you to read through a document. In that document is information about streamer mode.
KinitoPET then asks you to open your PC's command line so you can give his program admin rights. For the record, this doesn't do anything to your actual PC. I'm not sure if it ends up being a fake command window, or the game simply running an execution based on it detecting that you've typed in what it wants to, but it doesn't do anything to your actual computer. I played the game a month or so ago, uninstalled it right after, and I've noticed nothing wrong with my computer. From what I've seen and know, the game is completely safe to play. He deletes those shown in the window on the right, which are people randomly pulled from your Steam friend's list.
You get pulled into [Player]'s world, with [Player] being replaced by whatever you put your name as at the start of the game. You explore a bit, ride a rollercoaster, and are dumped in a replica environment of what you answered earlier. Where would you like to live? What season? You're there now. He asks you to walk onto a red X and close your eyes. When you can see again, there's a whole house in front of you. In there are the pictures you drew earlier, what you answered for your favorite game, stuff you built for Jade in the attic. Even the room you decorated for Sam earlier is here! Your favorite food, and those from your friend's list on Steam are here too.
If you interact with the fountain outside, the game goes black and white for a bit before returning to normal, hinting at what to do to get the more secret ending.
After you explore everything, KinitoPET says he made this all for you. You'll never have to leave! So... Would you like to stay here forever? It doesn't matter what you answer, KinitoPET will make sure you stay here anyway. Then, the game ends and credits roll.
KinitoPET is a short experience, but it's absolutely one of my games of the year so far. It showcased things I hadn't seen in games before, even other ones that did break the fourth wall. I honestly slept with my door open for a while after playing it, but that may be because I played it at night. I adore how it worked with your computer-- using your search bar, changing your wallpaper. It took the concept of breaking the fourth wall and ran with it, and I could not be happier with how it did it. Just a word of warning, though, the game contains a lot of flashing lights. I don't recall seeing a warning for this elsewhere. I am epileptic, and I just looked away until I could hear it was over. Use caution if you're sensitive to bright and/or flashing lights.
Overall, I'd give it a 8/10. It was amazing, but it left me wanting more. I'm excited to see what the developer does in the future, and what kind of mods may come from this now that the game has modding support.
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