Untitled Goose Game

Genre: Stealth / Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

.

Review:

(Note: Included in Untitled Goose Game & Thank Goodness You’re Here! Bundle, along with Thank Goodness You’re Here!.)

Untitled Goose Game is a bit difficult to define, landing somewhere in the Stealth and Puzzle genres, with some sandbox elements sprinkled in. Really, it’s easier to describe the game by the description given on Nintendo’s page for the game: It’s a lovely day in the village, and you are a horrible goose. You are in a town full of people just going about their day, and your primary goal is to do everything you can to make their lives absolutely miserable.

Mostly this takes the form of interacting with the environment in various ways. You can grab things with your beak, you can honk, you can bend your neck down, and you can spread your wings… and that’s about it. With just this, you need to complete various tasks on a checklist, ranging from “gather the following items in the following place” to “trick X character into doing Y”. The former tasks are generally pretty straightforward, albeit not necessarily easy, while the latter tasks can be puzzling. How do you make someone buy their own property? Hmm…

Thankfully, the game is fairly lax about allowing you to progress before you complete all tasks. Usually there are a few specific tasks that must be done before a new area can be opened up, and the rest are optional. Much of the time, you’ll be using some form of stealth to accomplish these goals, as the humans are about as fast as you when you’re unencumbered, can take items from you, and can push you out of an area.

The above is all pretty decent, but this game wins extra points in the style department. This game is ridiculously charming, with its simple, friendly flat-colored cel-shaded presentation and piano score that reflects what’s going on on the screen like a light improv Jazz session, and this bright cheery presentation pairs wonderfully well with all the delightful chaos you can wreak on the humans. The game knows how fun this is too, and adds in lots of opportunities for you to mess with people that have nothing to do with the missions themselves, just because being a jerkwad goose messing with people is pretty fun in and of itself.

The game isn’t without its flaws, though. Actually picking up and dropping objects can at times be a finicky thing, especially when there are a bunch of objects near each other. This is also true when you need to act fast, and compounded by the fact that the goose can’t turn around very quickly, making something as simple as running to grab something and turning around unnecessarily difficult.

Still, given how charming and unique Untitled Goose Game is, these issues can generally be overlooked. If you’re looking for a cute little game where you can be a horrible goose and mess with humans, this game delivers. Which is good, because there aren’t many games that fill that specific niche.

tl;dr – Untitled Goose Game is an odd combination of Stealth/Puzzle/Sandbox that delivers on its promise of making you a terrible goose who loves making people miserable. The game has a few issues with its controls, but on the whole it’s an all-around enjoyable experience

Grade: B+

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Winner:

Most Overrated – Put your pitchforks down. I liked this game – the fact that it has already been a runner-up for multiple awards should make that clear. However, with its short length and occasionally obtuse puzzles, I simply didn’t feel the huge outpouring of love everyone else seemed to give it was justified. Yes, the goose is funny, and messing with people is fun… but while it makes for a great meme, I don’t think it’s a truly spectacular game, and while I absolutely want indie games to get more love, there are plenty of others I played this year that I felt deserved it more than this one did.

Runner-Up: Funniest Game, Most Original, Best Graphical Style, Best Puzzle Game

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}