PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX ONE/SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
An inquisitive squirrel enters a secret bunker through an open roof hatch, having spied a mysterious device that – to the squirrel’s eyes at least – vaguely resembles a giant acorn. After the squirrel takes and eats the “acorn”, the bunker goes into lockdown and an agent enters the room to see what’s going on. Tripping over on a latch that the mischievous squirrel had opened, the agent drops his gun. The squirrel, now presumably full of scientific powers, picks up the gun and shoots the agent before heading out of the bunker and onto the mean streets of the local neighborhood where, possibly predictably, chaos ensues.
Squirrel With A Gun plays out as a semi open-world platformer that throws you into plenty of ridiculous situations. While exploring the neighborhood, you’ll need to track down large golden acorns as well as smaller regular acorns – the game’s two currencies that are required to unlock various upgrades. You’ll break into buildings that contain puzzles and platforming challenges that lead you to big acorns, and you’ll find locked cases that contain new outfits for the squirrel (because why not?). Building up your collection of big acorns gives access to new items that in turn allow you to enter new areas, with the late-game water park being a particular highlight.
The agents are always hunting you, and many of them will be wandering the streets ready to give chase. As luck would have it, you’ll find plenty of guns around the neighborhood, which you can use to either outright kill the agents or stun them and rush in to finish them off with a stylish (but silly) close-range execution. Guns are also useful for crossing large gaps – firing them in mid-air gives you a bit of extra bounce, and different types of gun have different effects on your movement. There’s no blood or gore – apart from the fact that you’re shooting people in the face, it’s all very PG – but there’s certainly lots of absurd humour.
Slightly janky and and completely ridiculous, SWAG won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but those who enjoy silly romps like Goat Simulator will be right at home. It isn’t the longest game – depending how often you either can’t figure out where to go next or get stuck on a boss fight, you’re likely to see the end credits in 3-5 hours – but that just means there’s little chance of anything outstaying its welcome. Good, simple, daft fun!
