Under the Skin (video game)
Under the Skin
Under the Skin is a Capcom action-adventure stealth game for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. The story follows Cosmi, a small blue alien from Planet Mischief who travels to Earth to pull pranks. The game blends science fiction with comedy.
Gameplay is about disguise and mischief. Cosmi zaps humans to steal their identity and then changes into them by standing on UFO icons shown on the mini-map. Each human has a gadget they can use to help Cosmi cause trouble, like boomboxes, vacuum cleaners, or bazookas. Pranks earn coins used to complete level goals. If a human discovers the disguise, they attack Cosmi. In disguise, Cosmi can take two hits: the first leaves him in his underwear, the second reverts him to his alien form. To disguise again, he must find another UFO. Panic Time moments burst in during chaotic sections.
The plot follows Cosmi, a three-year-old alien who wants to impress his father, the Master of Mischief. After crash-landing in Coco Town, he is trained by Master Itazura and travels through eight locations—Coco Town, High Stakes Hill, Pranksylvania, Pharaoh Island, Big Booty Bay, Frontiersville, Raccoon City, and Cosmopolis. Cosmopolis is revealed to be a trap used by anti-alien forces. Cosmi defeats the final challenge and returns to Planet Mischief, but crashes again on Earth, where a crowd photo reveals that some people are aliens.
Development and reception: The game was developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and was one of the studio’s last titles before Resident Evil 4. It opens with the song Little Green Bag and includes a level set in Raccoon City, a nod to the Resident Evil series. Metacritic shows mixed reviews. In a 2021 Eurogamer retrospective, Dan Whitehead called it fun in small doses but not very good overall, criticizing the camera, confusing action, and over-the-top tone, though acknowledging it as a bold, quirky experiment.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:29 (CET).