Developer: lidlocks
Publisher: PARCO GAMES
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Finding Polka – Review
Well, gamescom 2026 has come and gone, and what an edition it was. There were plenty of things announced to look forward to, including The Witcher 3 Remastered and Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Apart from those big reveals though, there was a much tinier game that unexpectedly caught our attention. PARCO GAMES and lidlocks’ Finding Polka had slipped under our radar up until this point, but when it was announced that the game had won gamescom 2026’s Most Wholesome award, we knew we had to give it a try.
Story
Our story begins with a short sequence where our protagonist, the aptly named Miss Friendly, dreams about her childhood dog, Polka. When she spots a French bulldog who looks identical to Polka, Miss Friendly and her current canine companion Jazz give chase. It’s a simple premise, but Finding Polka is a game that is more about the journey than the destination, and what a journey it is. Our dynamic duo finds themselves pursuing Polka (or his lookalike) across increasingly surreal and imaginative scenarios, including a farm overrun by moles, a jungle, the insides of a whale, and even outer space. The story is told completely without words or traditional dialogue, relying instead on character expressions, gestures, and visual encounters. It explores themes of loss, remembrance, and the bond between human and dog using surreal and supernatural elements. It’s surprisingly effective at this too. Without spoiling anything, consider this your warning: Finding Polka will tug at your heartstrings.
Graphics
The hand-drawn visuals are easily the standout feature here. Everything you see in the game started out as a ballpoint drawing, resulting in an intentionally imperfect line-art style. The aesthetic of the game brings to mind picture search books in the vein of Where’s Waldo. For the most part, the game is in black-and-white, with interactive objects highlighted in yellow. Since there is nothing forcing you forward, it’s worth it to take your time and breathe in the plethora of visual gags and tiny details, as this is where Finding Polka’s biggest strength lies.
Sound
As we mentioned, there is no traditional dialogue present in the game, and the only voice acting you’ll hear is Miss Friendly herself calling out to either Polka or Jazz, with the way she pronounces the dog names indicating how she feels. The game’s music is Finding Polka’s other main way of conveying emotion. For the most part, the tunes are gentle but they evolve and adjust depending on the on-screen action. That said, we didn’t find any of the music particularly memorable, unlike the game’s visuals. Highly expressive sound effects and ambience are used effectively in place of speech to communicate the thoughts and reactions of other characters.
Gameplay
It’s not just the aesthetics of Finding Polka that are reminiscent of picture search books, although there is more to the gameplay than simply playing “spot the dog”. Across its various levels and chapters, you’re tasked with guiding Miss Friendly towards Polka. This is easier said than done, as the environments are maze-like, and the path forward often involves solving environmental puzzles or helping out NPCs with simple requests. Some of those requests involve completing standalone minigames, ranging from the likes of whack-a-mole to vertical shoot-’em-ups. Not every minigame is mandatory, but even the ones that aren’t are fun little distractions.
In fact, we’d go as far as to say that Finding Polka itself is little more than a fun little distraction, if that wouldn’t sound so dismissive. The game is designed to be approachable to everyone, and there are no strict fail states or harsh time limits present. The control scheme is also extremely simple, resulting in a cosy and stress-free experience. There is only one thing that irked us about Finding Polka’s gameplay: it isn’t always clear where to go or what to do next. You could argue that finding your way is the entire point of the game (and you’d be right), but missing an interaction point can occasionally turn the game into a mildly frustrating pixel hunt instead.
It took us around three hours to complete Finding Polka, and to be quite frank, that runtime works to the game’s benefit. It’s enjoyable while it lasts and never overstays its welcome. That said, it has very low replay value, with post-game content limited to collecting real photos of the developer’s dog as bonus items. For €9.99, this is a matter of quality over quantity, and we’d say it’s well worth picking this one up as a low-friction way to unwind after a stressful day, rather than a deep or demanding game. In fact, it’s that same lack of depth that makes it difficult to really go into detail about the gameplay from a mechanical perspective. This truly is the kind of game where we need to outright say “trust us, just give it a chance” because of how well everything works together, even if individually the ingredients that make up Finding Polka aren’t all that impressive.
Conclusion
We can definitely see why Finding Polka won Most Wholesome at gamescom 2026. While the gameplay isn’t going to set anyone’s world on fire, the game itself is a perfect storm of hand-drawn charm, absurd humour and heartfelt sincerity. We wouldn’t go as far as to say it is a masterpiece, but if any game is going to be able to put a smile on your face this fall, it’s going to be Finding Polka.
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