• Price: $19.99 USD
• Developer/Publisher: Springfox Games
• Release Date: June 19, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by Springfox Games. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Whether it’s because of the content rating or the difficulty level, it can be challenging to find a game that both adults and children will enjoy playing. Springfox Games designed their roguelite deckbuilder game Nif Nif “with parents and kids in mind.” As the adorable piggy Nif Nif or the kitty named Cat, help clean up the forest and its furry inhabitants.

You start out with Nif Nif as your only playable character, and unlock Cat after you successfully complete a playthrough for the first time. When you start a new run, you choose to play as either Nif Nif or Cat.

Then you can equip one of the adorable hat options that provide you with an advantage of some sort, as well as a different color palette if you’d like. (You can unlock additional hats and color options by leveling up or meeting certain requirements.)

The preparation screen also includes a kitchen area and a garden. As you level up both characters, you unlock new crops to grow; you have to water them after each run and wait for them to finish growing. You can then use them to cook a soup to bring with you on your next run.

Select 1 of 3 cards with special effects to start your next run. Nif Nif and Cat have different special effect card options and different cards in their decks. (There seem to be different enemies for each of them as well.)

Maps are procedurally generated, and contain 15 stages ranging from battles to resting areas to shops and more. You get to choose the stages you play next on the map. Battles are turn-based, and you get 3 action points to use each turn. There are touchscreen capabilities in addition to the Joy-Con controls.

To make the game more wholesome and kid-friendly, they turned the standard HP bar into a cleanliness bar. The forest critters have been corrupted by slime, and they’ll try to do the same to you by hitting Nif Nif or Cat with goo. If your cleanliness bar reaches zero, that’s the end of that run.

The goal is to keep your character clean and to wipe the slime off of our forest friends. You get attack/cleaning cards as well as shield cards to decrease the damage to your cleanliness bar. Many of the cards are cleaning items such as a tissue or a sponge. The cards are illustrated with Nif Nif or Cat in adorable outfits and poses.

Your opponents also have shielding abilities. As a way to make the game less frustrating for the player, they made it so that the slimy animals display their planned action for their next turn. Battles aren’t terribly difficult, but they can still be a little challenging despite the game’s cutesy vibes.

Each successful run took me about 15 minutes; you gain experience at the end of each run, even if you failed. (I like how we don’t have to grind a lot in this game.) There isn’t really a story outside of the themes of helping others and cleaning up the environment. But I like how some of the forest animals would use fun pop culture references when they talk to you.

I think that Nif Nif is such a cute game, and I love being able to unlock new cards, crops, and ways to customize Nif Nif and Cat’s appearances. They didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s an enjoyable experience nonetheless. Be sure to check out the demo if this looks like something you’d be interested in playing. 🐷 🐱