Is this the ultimate cosy chaos game? – Doronko Wanko

Have you ever wanted to live your life as a Pomeranian? Do you long to cause chaos and cover the world in mess? Then Doronko Wanko is the game for you.

Released for free on the Steam store, Doronko Wanko is the cosy chaos game that puts you in the shoes of a naughty little dog who is hell-bent on covering his owner’s house in mess. Be it paint, oil, wine or mud, your job is to cover the house in as much colour as possible and uncover the hidden doggo faces.

As you run around creating chaos, a counter will track the cost it will take to clean professionally. Hitting various goals unlocks hats and equipment for your doggo to wear, some of which automatically shoots water and other liquids over the map.

The house itself is pretty huge and has six main areas to explore. Each area has between 8 and 20 hidden objectives to uncover. Some of these were really fun to achieve and others were truly well hidden. You need to interact with some objects creating a small degree of puzzle-solving but it’s not especially taxing.

Controlling your doggo is intuitive. He can run, jump and hold things with the joystick and face buttons (on the controller), and the triggers control the shake and roll functions. I also played with a mouse and keyboard and found it equally as comfortable but will always play controller when I can.

Graphically, there’s nothing epic to write home about, but the style and setting are perfect for what it set out to accomplish. It’s got that Pixar cartoon style, but with a softer light to it which holds the cosy game vibes in place.

Your avatar is adorable and even has a wee cross on his butt. There’s a cute cut-scene at the start with cartoony characters which sets the scene for a family moving into their new house but there’s not much outside of this. The items and equipment have similarly cute designs and some variation in their mechanics, but it’s largely pick-up and go.

The background music is relaxing and cosy with some ambient garden noises. Despite the difference in tone to the chaos reining upon the household, the Sims-like piano jazz compliments the gameplay which makes it easy to get absorbed into the game.

I’m a little sad there weren’t other locations to unlock, making this feel more like a tech demo than a full game. For a free game, however, Doronko Wanko is awesome. You might have to use the Steam page to get instructions on how to change the language to English, but it was super easy to do once I found the instructions.

Doronko Wanko is short, sweet and free to play. I’d like to see it expanded in the future allowing the chaos to spread through the neighbourhood and various shopping or entertainment establishments.