The moment I saw the trailer to this game the first time, I knew I was going to have to play it. To think someone would make something this insane and release it... and still make it look that fun, I just knew I had found one of the handful of games this year I needed to get my hands on and play pretty early on. And yes, it lived up to my expectations.
Story: You would think it's a bad idea for a top secret bunker with a top secret project to have a skylight open to the world, but apparently someone else didn't. As a result, this base just got a rodent problem... with a single squirrel who thinks the top secret project looks amazingly like a giant acorn. That squirrel is you.
Of course eating said acorn won't come without repercussions as the alarms go off and an agent on-base comes to see what's up. Unfortunately for him, he is clumsy and while drawing his gun, he trips and the gun goes flying only to land right in front of you. Pick it up, little squirrel. It's time to raise hell and collect more of these golden acorns.
This basic introduction is about all the story you are going to get, outside of introducing the bosses you will have to face before the game is over and a small cartoony final scene when you finish the battle. Still, I'd argue this isn't a game that needs much more: the game itself would motivate you to keep going if it had even less. Just know you are not here for story.
4/10
Graphics: This is one of the new games to come out using the new hotness when it comes to game engines, Unreal 5. You an agree or disagree with that statement, but you can not deny it is quickly becoming the popular choice, and despite being an indie title, it takes advantage to produce some great looking environments, starting with the sterile futuristic bunker you start your adventure in, and ultimately to the suburban neighborhood you will find most of the game takes place. The game's world is very believable in detail and style. It's not photorealistic, but it is close enough to let homes feel lived in, secret bases look like a retro-high-tech design, and everything else just look great that you will see in the world.
But you will not be in this world alone. Rather you are in a neighborhood filled with people going about their daily lives. From joggers to random people walking along the street, to the local crazy-man who mined and fenced off his front lawn and now sits behind sandbags with a shotgun (no I am not making this up, it's there and you find him pretty early in the game), this place is alive with people... people being watched by the same agents who are looking for a certain furry nuisance with a gun.
In all cases, the people look good if not as realistic as the world itself, taking a slightly cartoonish style to their look which just fits the tone perfectly and giving them character... yes, even the agents. And as for the squirrel himself, well, he looks just about as real as the houses, completing a rather pleasing look before you start destroying everything in your path.... and that looks even better!
Explosions, will be the main effect in use, but yeah, enjoy what you are about to see.
8/10
Sound: Sadly I do not think you can expect a lot out of the sound of this game, and we can start with the music. There is really very little, and almost none of it will stick with you long after you finish your session. There is basically a single tune for when things are normal and calm that you will hear most of the game, an energetic title for when an agent spots you and begins their assault, and a few bits here and there for very specific moments, should you find them. They all sound good and proper, but nothing stands out... except the boss music.
That is going to be a highlight track you will remember as it goes from melodic music to a metal rift as the main singer starts going ham on the mic yelling "TAKE YOUR SHOT!!!!" This track is just absolutely epic and fits the madness that is those boss fights, but we will get to that later.
Sadly this is the only words you will ever hear spoken in the whole game (besides your squirrel squeaking out a "hello" once in a while). There just isn't much actual voice work here, at all.
Instead what will take up most of the audio space of this game is ambiant noise, notes of confusion and delight (or terror) at your presence from the humans here, a little chittering (almost laughter) from the squirrel, and gunfire... lots of gun fire. This won't always be the loudest thing, but you and the agents will be firing a descent arsenal from pistols to bazookas, and everything has it's own flavor while firing. Unfortunately most of these guns just sound good enough, and don't really carry the meaty thunk you might want from something like a sub-machinegun, though.
7/10
Gameplay: For all the chaos this game carries, the actual gameplay that makes it all up is much more like a classic collect-a-thon then one might expect. You will play the roll as the titular squirrel in the title and view the game from a 3rd person camera, which you will control independently of your own movement as you navigate the various rooms and platforming puzzles the game offers you. Right from the first room, you will be bouncing around trying to make a point to hit every red-lit target to open up the first acorn, you will be started right away both learning the controls involved ad well as this basic goal that will take you through the entire game.
And then an agent comes to investigate and pulls a pistol as he runs in your direction... and trips, granting you your first weapon. And now you learn to aim and shoot, as well as just how much kickback even that handgun has, sending you backwards with every shot. You will have to learn how to deal with this for combat with agents as well as use it for additional options to get to new and interesting places that could have anything from normal acorns (which will give you health as well as act as a currency), to weapons to golden acorns and costume pieces... some of which will have additional functionality you will need.
To cover the combat first, it will feel different from most games. When you have a gun of any sort, you will see a an arc to the right side of your squirrel representing how much ammo you have: white bullets for the ammo you have and transparent for spent so you can keep track very easily. However you can usually get more with little effort, be it walking into clip icons (which fill at your ammo at a specific rate), collecting clips dropped by agents, or even walking over tiles to get a new gun (which is instant, but will not fill you if you fire while standing on them).
However, you will also find quarters of reload wheels as you play which will allow you to reload in the middle of battle without any of the above. These are strewn about the map to be found and when you have a weapon you will have them show up in yellow inside the arc of ammo for each one you haven't yet used. You can refill this as well, but you will have to collect "bullet cones" (literally pine cones made of bullets) to do this.
In addition to fighting using these guns, they will also be used in jumping puzzles as well. Provided you have the ammo to spend, while in mid air, you can hit the jump button up to 3 more times (or hold it down in the case of the machine gun) to aim your weapon straight down and fire for an extra upward push. Different weapons will have different distances per hit, so it will be up to you to figure out what works best for each of these situations.
And those puzzles can be devious as hell, requiring you to learn exactly how things interact to unlock new and interesting items and those golden acorns I mentioned previously, which will be your main goal in the game since anything from guns you can unlock to vehicles you will need for boss battles will require you to have earned a certain amount to be able to unlock them and move the game forward. To illustrate this when you first get to the neighborhood, your squirrel will look on in awe as an agent sets one of those locked transparent boxes around a tile which will grant you access to a little car to drive and will need to do so to get to the first of two bosses in the game.
And this is both the most insane and the one weakness the game has... those boss fights. Each one will involve multiple phases and, while not too difficult in their own right, can be frustrating, either due to misdirection (the first one starting you in that car like you should expect to fight in it... do not do that... you will have a bad time) or having to know a bit in advance to not get completely screwed by how phase 2 ends (the second one puts you in a small circular platform with a single path off it.. do not finish phase 2 without a clear path to get there and do so quickly). However these unfortunate details, once you are aware of them, can be discarded for an absolutely fun and madcap time to just add that final touch of insanity the game will offer you.
And it really is the final touch. This whole game is drenched in a warped sense of humor as you are pretty much left to your own devices with the population. Want to pose for pictures? You can do that. Want to instead hold up the guy who came by to adore you for all the acorns they can carry? You can do that to. Want to go all ninja and just climb up someone's body before giving them the final time their neck will crack? Feel free! Want to just blow shit up with a grenade launcher? Guess what? If you can find the tools, you have the options to do it. The choices are pretty much yours and what you kind of havoc you wish to cause on your quest for the golden acorns, and I will leave your imagination to find new and fun things to do to and for everyone as they try to live with you making a mess of theirs.
8/10
Bugs: This game ran pretty close to bug free. I say pretty close because the physics engine could get a little wonky from time to time, and cause a few issues... one so minor it's almost not worth mentioning, and the other may actually help you in the collect-a-thon side of your journey.
- The bodies are not always still: This is not an issue that is going to effect you playing the game, but it will look weird once you start getting some killstreaks going. Sometimes, the game forgets if an enemy is dead or not, has to check it out, and then lay the body down. As a result, sometimes you see someone you killed move! They will stay dead, don't worry, but it will look weird.
- CAR STUNTS (Im gonna chuck my nuts!): This bug, however, is actually useful, allowing you to score as many normal acorns as you wish once you have access to the car. Doing trick jumps generates these nuts, and the more elaborate they are, the more you can generate. The issue (trick?) is that you can get yourself into a situation where you can hold the car in an erratic flipping out animation for just about as long as you want, and generate all the acorns you want while you do so. No this won't get you any golden acorns, but for unlocking individual things on the maps, it can be a nice shortcut rather then hunting down the ones actually strewn about.
Digital Rights Management: The only DRM connected to this game is Steam itself. However, you will need to run Steam to run this game. - Source: PC Gaming Wiki
Score: To call this game unfun would be a straight up lie. Between figuring out platform puzzles, killing agents, and just generally mucking about this game is a blast. Add to it a beautifully sick and cartoony sense of humor and you have a real winning formula. The only thing I can really say against the game is I wish the boss encounters had a few kinks worked out to perfect them, but overall this is the kind of game we need more of today.
8/10
System Requirements:
- 2.6 Ghz or faster CPU
- 8 GB RAM
- NVidia Geforce GTX 1080
- Windows 7 (64 Bit only)
- 10 GB of Hard Drive space
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
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