XBOX REVIEW | Silly Polly Beast

Some developers build worlds with teams of dozens. Andrei Chernyshov does it solo, and Silly Polly Beast marks his first foray onto Xbox. It’s also his second game overall, following Fury Turn, which launched exclusively on PC back in 2022. This time, his wonderfully chaotic design sensibilities have landed on console, and the result is a gloriously unhinged, mechanically clever adventure that feels like it escaped from a dream and crash-landed on your hard drive.

You play as Polly, a selectively mute orphan who escapes from a nightmarish orphanage and strikes a dangerous pact with a demonic entity. Though she doesn’t speak aloud, her thoughts are shared through on-screen text, and she uses her mobile phone to send and receive messages, adding a modern, intimate layer to her journey. Her goal? To reunite with her friend Alice and survive the twisted underworld she’s been dragged into. Armed with a regenerating gun and a throwable skateboard, Polly must navigate fog-drenched ruins, soul barrels, and shadowy foes, all while deciding whether to save the world or leave it behind.

It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s unmistakably unique. But while Silly Polly Beast delivers plenty of surprises, not every idea lands perfectly. So let’s dig into what I loved, and where things got a little tangled.

Things I liked!

• Art Direction with Teeth | Silly Polly Beast doesn’t just look good, it looks wild. The game opens like a punk horror comic, drenched in reds and blacks, with hand-drawn textures that feel raw and angry. But it doesn’t stay there. As Polly’s journey spirals deeper into the underworld, the visual style mutates: one moment you’re in a side-scrolling nightmare, then you’re skating through an endless runner tunnel, then dropped into a fixed-camera PS1-style horror vignette. Each shift feels deliberate, like the game is trying to disorient you just enough to keep you on edge. There’s a surreal, sketchbook energy to it all, like someone spilled ink and emotion across every frame. The lighting is especially striking: shadows swallow entire rooms, while flickers of flame or neon cut through the gloom with purpose. Even the UI and text overlays feel like part of the aesthetic, reinforcing Polly’s fragmented inner world.
  
  It’s not always perfect, there are rough edges here and there, with some transitions feeling abrupt or certain textures clashing, but overall, I really liked the art style. It’s expressive, unpredictable, and deeply tied to the game’s emotional rhythm. The constant visual shifts aren’t just for flair; they reflect Polly’s mental state, her pact with the beast, and the instability of the world around her.
  

• Sound & Fury | The soundscape in Silly Polly Beast is just as layered and chaotic as its visuals. Every footstep, skateboard toss, and gunshot has a crunchy, stylised texture, more expressive than realistic. It’s designed to jolt and jar, reinforcing the game’s punk horror aesthetic and keeping you slightly off balance. The music shifts with the mood: eerie ambient loops, glitchy synth bursts, and distorted lullabies all make an appearance. It’s especially effective during boss encounters and late-game sequences, where the score ramps up the tension and emotional weight. The soundtrack doesn’t just sit in the background, it actively shapes the atmosphere. That said, it’s not flawless. Some effects overpower the mix or clash with the tone of the music, and a few transitions between tracks feel abrupt. But overall, the audio design adds real texture to Polly’s journey. It’s messy, moody, and emotionally charged, just like the game itself.
  
  
• Fragments of a Nightmare | The story in Silly Polly Beast doesn’t follow a traditional arc, it unravels in fragments, scattered across environments, text overlays, and cryptic messages on Polly’s phone. As you progress, new layers of her past and the world’s twisted logic begin to surface, often through surreal encounters and shifting perspectives. It’s not always linear, and some moments feel deliberately obscure, but there’s a clear emotional throughline: Polly’s bond with Alice, her pact with the beast, and her struggle to make sense of the chaos around her. The deeper you go, the more the narrative leans into psychological horror and dream logic, rewarding players who pay attention to visual cues and thematic echoes.
  
  
• Alternate Outcomes | Silly Polly Beast offers multiple endings, which adds a welcome layer of replayability. Your choices and performance across chapters influence which outcome you get, encouraging second runs to see how things could play out differently. It’s a smart way to reward persistence, especially if you’ve already had to restart once or twice.

Mixed & disliked!

• Gameplay That Bites Back | Silly Polly Beast throws a lot at you, combat, puzzles, traversal, and when it clicks, it’s bold and expressive. Polly’s regenerating gun and throwable skateboard are central to the action, encouraging fast, creative play. You can also pick up explosive larvae, which work like grenades: great for crowd control, but tricky to aim when things get hectic. I found gameplay a real mixed bag. The stamina bar drains after just three melee attacks, refills quickly, then empties again just as fast. In crowded fights, this makes survival tough, especially with enemies swarming and your health bar melting away. Health consumables help, but they take a few seconds to use, so you’ll need breathing room to activate them. Ammo drops from fallen demons offer some relief, and your main weapon, the Demolver, can be refilled at flaming bins. These burn out if overused, adding pressure to already intense encounters.
  
  As you progress, you’ll unlock other weapons like the shotgun, spike launcher, and machine gun, each with their own strengths. However, you can only carry one at a time, which adds a layer of strategy to your loadout choices. Boss fights are inventive, and the shifting level design, side-scrolling, top-down, fixed-camera, keeps things fresh. But controls can be imprecise, some mechanics unclear, and a few puzzles lean too hard on trial and error. Still, when it works, it really works. The gameplay is chaotic, creative, and full of personality, even if it occasionally gets in its own way.
  

• Performance Wobbles, But Holds | Silly Polly Beast runs well enough to get through, but it’s not always smooth. Frame rate dips are common during busy combat sequences, especially when the screen’s packed with enemies or effects. It’s not game-breaking, but it does add to the sense of chaos, and not always in a good way. Load times are short, and checkpoints are generous, which helps offset the difficulty spikes. I didn’t encounter any major crashes or progression bugs, but there were a few visual glitches, like enemies clipping through walls or animations stuttering mid-attack. The game’s visual style leans into grit and distortion, so it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s intentional and what’s just messy. That said, it holds together well enough to support the experience, even if it occasionally feels like it’s straining under its own ambition.
  
  
• Die, Learn, Repeat | Silly Polly Beast autosaves frequently, which mostly works in its favour, but not always. On a few occasions, I found myself stuck with critically low health and a swarm of enemies blocking the path forward. With no way to recover or retreat, progressing became impossible, forcing a full restart. On the second run, I did better, using everything I’d learnt previously to push through. It’s a harsh loop, but one that rewards persistence. There are three difficulty settings to choose from. I started on Normal, but after Chapter 3 of 5, I switched to Easy. Honestly, I couldn’t tell much difference. Enemy numbers and aggression felt just as intense, and the stamina and health systems didn’t seem noticeably more forgiving. It’s worth experimenting, but don’t expect Easy mode to offer a dramatic drop in challenge.
  
  
• Accessibility & Comfort | Entirely text-based, there’s no need for subtitle toggles, though support for ten languages makes it broadly readable. Accessibility options include auto-weapon switching, heavy-hit slow motion, enemy highlighting, hand camera shake, brightness, and text speed adjustments. Silly Polly Beast offers a solid set of comfort tweaks, though players needing deeper support, like remappable controls or visual filters, may find it limited.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 16 Hours
How long to beat the story? 13 Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 18/32 OR 513G
How long to achieve 1000G | 25 Hours +
You’ll love this game if you like these | Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered & Signalis

CONCLUSION

Score: 72/100

Silly Polly Beast is a stylish, scrappy nightmare on wheels, just don’t expect it to play fair while you’re skateboarding through hell.

Silly Polly Beast is a chaotic punk-horror ride with wild art, shifting perspectives, and a regenerating gun. It’s bold, messy, and full of personality, autosave traps, stamina quirks, and all. The sketchbook aesthetic and multiple endings make it a trip worth taking more than once. It doesn’t always play fair, but it never stops being interesting.