Turnip Boy Robs a Bank

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG / 2-Stick Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, released in 2024 on PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, is… odd. Well, okay, any game titled Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is obviously going to be odd, but this is unexpectedly odd. This game is the direct sequel to 2021’s Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, but it doesn’t play much like its predecessor. Or perhaps it might be more appropriate to say that it plays exactly like its predecessor, if you slapped a 2-Stick Shooter on top of the Action-RPG gameplay that was already there, with players doing both at the same time?

Gameplay in the prior game had a focus on players running errands for their anthropomorphic vegetable peers, which included a little combat here and there. This time around, combat is fairly constant, with the melee attacks of the prior game being supplemented with guns that will have you spraying enemies with bullets. And in these same environments where you’ll be trading gunfire with enemies, you’ll also have numerous friendly NPCs asking you to run errands for them, or just looking to chat, as if there wasn’t a massive shootout happening right in front of them.

As with the first game, the story here is pretty silly. In the wake of all the destruction caused by the events of the first game, the titular Turnip Boy, a seemingly-cute mute protagonist, is approached with an offer to join a crew aiming to rob a bank. Turnip Boy naturally jumps at the opportunity to profit off of crime and chaos, and becomes the point man in the operation to rob a bank… over and over and over again. Yes, the same bank. You’d think, at some point, they’d learn to increase the security.

The game is nominally set up like a Roguelike, but I didn’t feel like there was enough randomness to justify the use of that term. Yes, enemies do drop different kinds of weapons that you can pick up and use (and later bring back to your hideout to trade up for better starting weapons), and yes, the bank’s elevators have a strange habit of bringing you to different rooms at different times, but the rooms themselves are all pretty set in their layout.

Players have a limited amount of time to go on their destructive robbing spree before the cops arrive, adding increasingly more frequent and difficult enemies to contend with as you stay longer. At first, you’ll have little incentive to do so, as Turnip Boy can only carry a limited amount of money – with your carrying capacity, the amount of time before the cops show up, health, and other stats upgradeable at your hideout using your stolen earnings.

There’s a lot to do here, the combat is fun and different than other games in the genre due to how busy and crowded the environments are, and the way the place is filled with NPCs to interact with definitely makes things feel different too. This may be a big change of pace from the first game, but it’s certainly not a bad one.

That’s not to say there aren’t some flaws here, though. The need to return to your getaway vehicle alive in order to bank the cash from each heist does add a nice risk-reward element as you see how far you can venture in, knowing each step forward will also be a step back through a larger number of enemies… but this also means that every time you make a run you’ll be forced to backtrack over everywhere you’ve been.

This isn’t always a straightforward thing to do either, as the layout of the bank can be winding and confusing, and at times you’ll even be wandering around for a bit trying to figure out which way you came. What’s more, while the various tasks you’re given by NPCs make for a nice change of pace, it’s not always clear where you need to go to complete those tasks.

While a lot has changed here, returning fans will find at least one element of the prior game returning in fine form here, and that’s the presentation, using colorful 2D pixel art visuals with some great character designs. However, I do need to point out that the Nintendo Switch version of the game does seem to suffer from frequent slowdown. It’s not horrible, but it is noticeable. These visuals are backed by a whimsical synthesized soundtrack, and with the game overall infused with a lot of humor.

Where the running gag in the first game was Turnip Boy’s inability to hold onto any piece of paper without ripping it to shreds, this time around the joke seems to be that everyone is now laminating the documents they hand to him, preventing him from doing so. Beyond this, literally shaking down bank patrons for cash never stops being amusing, the game’s odd characters all seem to have their own silly priorities, and the bank itself increasingly seems to be less of a bank and more of a large amalgamation of different sorts of community spaces grafted onto what might have originally started as a bank. A bank with its own art gallery? With its own camping grounds? Sure, why not!

While not as short as the first game, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is still relatively short – an estimated 4-5 hours long. But overall, I think this is a pretty enjoyable game, one worth checking out for fans of 2-Stick Shooters, and particularly for those who enjoyed Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. Its oddball antics aren’t always successful, but they’re frequently amusing and certainly enough to set this game apart from anything else out there.

tl;dr – Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is an Action-RPG and 2-Stick Shooter and sequel to Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion that features some very different gameplay compared to the original game, but it’s still overall a fun, enjoyable, and unique experience with a great sense of humor. A few gameplay elements don’t work here and can sometimes lead to frustration, but overall this is a delightfully wacky game well worth playing.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Sequel, Funniest Game

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