Developer: House House
Publisher: Panic
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Tested on: PS4
Untitled Goose Game – Review
Untitled Goose Game was pretty much the talk of the town in 2019, because of its premise, its visuals and somewhat simplistic concept and mechanics. The game received a lot of praise, even though it’s quite a short adventure. People were seemingly enamored by the fact they could be the biggest dick in history in the form of a goose. Now the game has hit the PlayStation 4 and we were lucky enough to score a copy of the game. While initially prepared to be dickish to everyone in this digital adventure, we were quite happy to learn about the co-op update of the game that was released in September, allowing us to share the fun. Honk honk mother#@&§èrs.
Story
Just like the lack of inspiration for the title, the developer didn’t have that many ideas for a story for the game. You virtually get dropped in the middle of a lush green area in the form of a goose (or geese when playing with a friend) and you then start exploring the world around you. Each segment of the world you visit has different goals, and you then build your own story, in terms of doing your tasks stealthily or by being a real dick. There’s not really that much more you need in terms of a story for this title.
Graphics
The simple 3D visuals in combination with the somewhat ‘painted’ colors make the game very appealing to look at. While the low-poly models aren’t that much in terms of high-end technology, and the surroundings having very little details, the game does have a certain charm that entices many potential players to actually buy and try this title. The game puts you in several different environments and they are all neatly created with a lot of clutter your goose, or geese, can pick up and steal for its unknowing victims.
Sound
The sound design of Untitled Goose Game is quite nice and calming to be honest. You’ll often just hear the sound effects of you waddling about, or the interaction with the items you’re knocking over, stealing or destroying. Sometimes these antics will get accompanied by a few notes of piano music, which gives it a certain calming vibe. We like how it all merges together into one big whole, while remaining quite simplistic.
Gameplay
Untitled Goose Game is labeled as a Puzzle and Stealth game, and this is somewhat true. While you are expected to complete objectives without the people around you noticing you, our stealth skills went out of the window quite quickly when we decided to annoy the hell out of our digital victims. We found ourselves stealing stuff in plain sight, bumping into unsuspecting NPCs and just generally wreaking havoc.
The gameplay is actually quite simple. You run around in the enclosed area you find yourself in, you annoy NPCs, steal items, bring them where they need to be, or you try to trigger certain actions. You only have limited moves in your repertoire, so you’re basically stuck sneaking around, distracting NPCs, or just dragging and grabbing items. When playing with two, certain tasks are easier as one player can distract said NPCs. Nonetheless, you can only move a fixed distance from each other, so the difficulty lies in staying close enough to go around obstacles, or try different approaches.
You do notice that some part of the game are somewhat rough with bad collision detection, controls that don’t always respond as they should and so on. While these are overlookable, they can sometimes be annoying when trying to do something that requires a bit more precision.
Conclusion
Untitled Goose Game is a blast to play through. While the game has not received any additional content since its original release, being able to now play through it with a friend via local co-op is simply so much fun. Being a total twat might only set you back a few hours, it’s still a very nice and relaxing experience to play through this one. Sure, you can do it stealthy and clean, but before you know it you’re honking to your heart’s content with a friend sitting next to you.
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