Skin Deep review: quirky immersive simulator that could have benefited from additional chaos.

      “Skin Deep is a quirky slice of immersive slapstick that could benefit from a bit more chaos.”

      **Pros**

      - Classic Blendo style

      - Eccentric story and setting

      - Spontaneous slapstick humor

      - Smart immersive simulation systems

      **Cons**

      - Some bugs that can ruin gameplay

      - Limited strategies for tackling spaceships

      - Repetitive objectives

      How can someone be expected to perform their job without any resources? This is the challenge that intergalactic insurance agent Nina Pasadena faces in Skin Deep, a compact immersive simulation from Blendo. Pasadena's role is to shield cat-filled spaceships from pirates, but her corporate superiors have left her with minimal supplies. Items like banana peels, containers of black pepper, and soap become her makeshift weapons due to a lack of better options. Can’t a girl at least have a gun?

      While this concept lends itself to an entertaining slapstick comedy about overcoming obstacles, Skin Deep feels like an ambitious go-getter hampered by limited resources. Blendo's charming project is filled with clever immersive sim elements that distill the genre to its core, yet it struggles to expand on that idea sufficiently for each spaceship to present unique challenges. Nevertheless, it extracts enough cartoonish mischief from its perilous premise, earning it a nod of recognition as Employee of the Week.

      **Lo-fi Thriller**

      In Skin Deep, players complete assignments for MIAOCorp, an intergalactic insurance agency managed by blocky cats. To safeguard the ships' cargo and crew, the company secretly places cryogenically frozen agents aboard, who are activated if pirates attack. Nina is one such agent, tasked with decapitating unsuspecting raiders, disposing of their heads to prevent a rescue machine from reassembling their bodies, and liberating a trapped crew of cats locked in boxes. Her routine is upended when Nina uncovers the existence of an evil twin, sparking a zany spy thriller between assignments.

      This entire scenario is absurd in a manner that aligns with Blendo's distinctive style. Since 2008, the indie developer has become a hidden gem in gaming, skillfully blending lo-fi visuals with thrilling spy narratives to carve out a unique comedic approach. Skin Deep effectively builds on the strengths of both Thirty Flights of Loving and Quadrilateral Cowboy, retaining what made those games memorable while broadening the studio's gameplay aspirations.

      Skin Deep embodies the essence of a classic immersive sim, wearing its influences outwardly. For newcomers who might discover the studio through a high-profile publishing deal with Annapurna Interactive, the game’s aesthetic may initially present a culture shock. It showcases distinctly polygonal objects, flat textures, and block-headed characters. These have always been Blendo's trademarks, particularly effective in a game influenced by seminal PC shooters like System Shock. Skin Deep retains the spirit of a classic immersive sim while demonstrating its own visual flair, featuring brightly colored corridors that lighten the mood of those older PC titles and reimagining how they might appear as comedies.

      However, it’s important not to confuse this deliberate quirkiness with low production values; Skin Deep fully commits to realizing Blendo's long-held cinematic dreams. It boasts a James Bond-style opening, complete with an original theme. The game features an excellent voice cast, including highlights like SungWon Cho, who excels at portraying a pompous business cat. Its standout moments unfold during interstitial storytelling sequences, such as when Nina infiltrates a pirate meeting and cleverly places a bug on a seemingly endless tray of sandwiches. Blendo enhances the experience where needed to deliver the comedic thriller vibe it has been perfecting for over a decade, even without Annapurna's support, while still maintaining its eccentric energy.

      **Annapurna Interactive**

      Despite this impressive effort, there are sections where Blendo's limitations hinder the realization of broader and more complex ideas. During testing, I encountered various bugs, some of which were minor inconveniences, such as a pirate's corpse getting stuck in a wall, requiring me to wait for the detached head to eject from the body. Other issues were more severe, forcing me to restart missions, like when I cornered a pirate and both of us were sent through the ship's geometry. Disturbing error messages appeared when I attempted to enter new missions or save my progress using an in-mission touchscreen. Such frustrating problems made me wary of experimenting within the sandbox, as it felt like I was handling a fragile game that could easily break under pressure.

      **Micro Immersive Sim**

      While the bugs are fixable, they highlight a larger issue that is harder to address. Skin Deep is grounded in a promising immersive sim concept that it struggles to fully support. The central premise involves tossing Nina into a spaceship, consisting of a few interconnected rooms, where she must liberate all cats aboard. To achieve this, she must stealthily navigate past guards, find keys, and exit the ship as quietly as possible. Without any weapons upon exiting her