Yeah ok, I got suckered into playing this just because it looked funny. This is this genre’s schtick, something that was popularised over a decade ago when Goat Simulator hit the streets, and the formula has proven popular with those who enjoy the B-game aesthetic. Of course the trouble with these kinds of games is just how long the core joke can be funny and, whilst the game’s opening moments are definitely up there in terms of sheer hilarity it quickly devolves and gets pretty repetitive. Again though, that’s this genre, and it takes a special kind of person to want to try and 100% these kinds of things.
You are a squirrel who’s found their way into a secret military base and mistaking some secret technology for an acorn you consume it, seemingly granting powers well beyond that of your garden variety squirrel. Your incursion though has drawn the ire of Father, the leader of this black site who’s now got you in his crosshairs. Can you withstand the full might of the military, whilst also terrorizing the heck out of the citizens who just happen to be in the way? Of course you can, you’re a weaponised rodent with nothing left to lose.
Surprisingly, for a game that looks like you’re standard B-game that’d be leveraging the Unity engine and its asset store with reckless abandon, Squirrel with a Gun is built on Unreal 5. This doesn’t mean it looks good though, far from it, but that’s a core part of this genre. The haphazard, quickly thrown together feeling is most certainly something that the devs sought to cultivate and it permeates throughout everything. Models are simplistic and duplicated everywhere, animations are stiff and not blended together well and the foley work is questionable to say the least. The visuals aren’t the point of course, it’s the mayhem that you’ll cause.
You’re given free reign over an area and let loose to collect acorns, golden acorns and all the various cosmetics to transform yourself into the squirrel that all will come to fear. Most of these things can be found by just exploring but others will require a bit of platforming, puzzle solving or some combination of both. The puzzle mechanics can be as simple as shooting targets all the way through to needing to get specific bits of equipment so you can traverse a minefield so you can off the prepper dude and get his stash. Once you’ve completed a certain number of objectives the area will expand, giving you access to other collectibles, better weapons and new challenges. It’s weird to think of it like a more structured Goat Simulator, given that structure is kind of the antithesis to these kinds of games, but that’s exactly what it is.
Exploring the areas is pretty fun, as is shaking down the NPCs for acorns which they all seemingly carry quite a lot of with them for some reason. The game helpfully tells you how many things there are left to collect in certain areas so you won’t be left wondering if it’s worth still exploring an area to get that next golden acorn. The platforming is, expectedly, janky as fuck though so you’ll likely be retrying sections multiple times over because the controls just aren’t the greatest (by design, I’m sure). Some of the puzzles are also frustrating exercises in figuring out if you have to make some 1 in 10,000 shot or if you’re just looking at it the wrong way but, again, I think that’s the point.
There’s a variety of other challenges, mini games and boss fights as well which breakup the usual exploration well enough but, if I’m honest, by the time I’d unlocked the last area I just ran out of steam on the idea. To be sure there were still some fun moments to be had up until that point, but once I was having to navigate platforming challenges that would send me all the way to the bottom when I failed I just got over it. This is the longest I’ve spent in a game like this in recent memory though, so there’s that.
Squirrel with a Gun is a fun little distraction. It’s probably the most deliberately crafted piece of janky software I’ve played with in ages, something which has both its charms and frustrations. The comedy aspect, as expected, has a shelf life that I met after a handful of hours. Exploration and puzzles are fun enough until they too start to wear thin. All this being said though, if Goat Simulator was something you lost many hours on then you’ll probably be right at home here, as it’s very much the same vibe.
Rating: 7.0/10
Squirrel with a Gun is available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S right now for $29.50. Total playtime was 2.8 hours with 35% of the achievements unlocked.
