Very funny, good style, good gameplay loop. I found it lacking in difficulty, though, enemies are deaf and blind and don't deal that much damage

I somehow missed this was made by Blendo Games and was very pleasantly surprised to discover while playing that it was!
Very much like Quadrilateral Cowboy, but an ImmSim. A succession of independent levels where each sprinkles in a couple new mechanics, punctuated by cutscene/story levels with that unique Blendo flair.
Much like Quadrilateral Cowboy, Skin Deep ends a little too early to feel like a full meal. You get one level where the mechanics are firing on all cylinders and that's it.
I also found the shorter runtime to mean the characters were less developed (which is an insane thing to say if you know who most of the characters are), and the ending to be a bit of a letdown because there wasn't really time to build to a narrative climax.
But it succeeds on the ImmSim part very well! I played slow and steady but I have a feeling a lot of the mechanics support brash and daring decisions. Will have to keep an eye on the speed running scene to see what nonsense they get up to.

Skin Deep is the kind of game I wish we had more of and got more press, so I could hear about them and support them. Is it perfect? No. Is it a great IMSIM in a world where even acceptable IMSIMS are impossible to find? YES! It presents a world of a bunch of fun toys and allows for all kinds of unscripted actions. I'm not even very creative in the IMSIM world, but I want to get better at it, which is another reason I want more of these. I want to get better at thinking of ways to use the world to make fun things happen. I'm glad this showed up on someone's "best of 2025" list. Skin Deep is a great example of paring down what isn't needed to make the game you want to make. There are only 3 enemy models in the whole game, and effectvely only 2 kinds. The graphics are a 20 year old IDTECH engine. There are probably only 40 or 50 items in the whole game. Every map is about trash chutes, vents, airlocks, and windows. But it WORKS. No frills, no epic story, no deep themes. Just pirates, cats to rescue, and fun to be had.