When you think of squirrels, you picture small, fluffy creatures with cute, bushy tails. They’re a little skittish and tend to avoid people, so the idea of a squirrel running around with a gun is baffling. The idea of any animal wielding a gun is absurd, of course, but it’s even more so when they’re so small that the recoil from even the tiniest weapon sends them staggering backwards.
That’s why Squirrel with a Gun is such an entertaining concept. It’s wacky. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s what drew me to this quirky offering from Dee Dee Creations—along with my hope that it would entertain me as much as Untitled Goose Game and Goat Simulator 3 did.
The game might not boast the most advanced graphics, and it could use some improvement, but it certainly did entertain me.
Story
Forgive the laboured pun, but this game is pretty nuts. There’s no dialogue or real narrative to follow. Our fluffy protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at it) wakes up in an underground facility and wants to break out. After one of the agents guarding the facility drops his gun, the little guy quickly gets used to the idea of being armed and dangerous.
From there, you’ll run through a short tutorial that introduces all the gameplay mechanics you’ll need before being set free in the outside world, where you can help or hinder the residents of the local neighbourhood as much as you like. Now, I’m not saying you should hold anyone up at gunpoint, but you certainly can if you want.
As you explore, you’ll also find that plenty of secret agents are out there looking for you. You can avoid them, but where’s the fun in that? You’d miss out on all the over-the-top finishing moves, which are actually quite brilliant. These vary depending on the weapon you’re using, so it’s worth trying them all out to see what happens.
Exploration and Collectibles
Squirrel with a Gun is primarily a sandbox game, but it borrows elements from the shooter and platformer genres. There’s a lot of freedom to do what you want, but there are also plenty of collectibles hidden throughout the map. The main things to look out for are acorns—both standard and golden—which act as currency to unlock bigger and better weapons and vehicles.
There are also a number of outfits to find. Many are purely cosmetic, but some provide perks, like negating blast damage or increasing the effectiveness of neck-snapping. Because, yes, if running around with a gun wasn’t enough, you can break necks too.
To make things easier, the game splits the map into distinct areas and displays the number of collectibles in each at the top of the screen, so you always know what you still need to find. If you’re really struggling, climbing flagpoles allows you to see where the collectibles are. This doesn’t necessarily tell you how to get them, though, as many require you to complete a task to unlock them. It’s worth experimenting as I unlocked a fair few just by messing around and seeing what I could do.
Platforming and Combat
Some collectibles require a bit of squirrel parkour. Some of it is straightforward, albeit a little tricky to pull off due to the game’s sometimes clunky controls and awkward camera, while others require more thought.
Still, platforming was probably one of my favourite aspects of this game. It took a little time to get used to—squirrels can really jump—so I was constantly either overshooting or falling short. It became quite fun once I got the hang of it though, especially after I unlocked my first gun. You can use your gun to propel yourself upwards with varying impact, depending on the weapon. Just don’t try it with the grenade launcher—you’re more likely to blow yourself up, something I discovered the hard way.
There are a couple of boss fights, which are as crazy and chaotic as they are entertaining. The music during these fights is so awesome that it wouldn’t feel out of place in a James Bond movie. “Squirrel v.s. Tank”—not your typical boss battle, but then again, nothing about this game is conventional.
Final Thoughts
While not on the scale of Goat Simulator 3, there is quite a lot to do, though the game will probably only hold your attention for six or seven hours. You’ll likely spend a lot of the early hours terrorising the locals, but this gets old fast. There are only so many times you can hold someone up or snap their neck before it becomes repetitive. Once you’ve collected everything on the map, there’s not much left to keep you engaged.
It’s the secret challenges that provide the most entertainment, largely because the game doesn’t really tell you what to do. You’re left to figure it out on your own, and half the time, you might solve them by accident—I certainly didn’t expect that blowing up a barbecue would allow me to feed the hungry guests and earn the coveted reward of a golden acorn.
Squirrel with a Gun has the potential to be a great game, but at the moment, it just falls a little short. Much of its appeal lies in its quirky premise, and whilst it’s fun running around as a gun-wielding squirrel, it could benefit from some new content to prevent it from becoming stale.
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Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 29th August 2024
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Squirrel with a Gun was provided by the publisher.
