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2024 · Adventure · Indie

Squirrel with a Gun

Squirrel, meet gun. As the neighborhood’s most obnoxious rodent, develop a knack (and a love?) for crime and mayhem in pursuit of golden acorns in this nutty sandbox shooter and puzzle platformer. Fight tooth, claw, and gun to escape a secret underground facility and defeat the Agents.

Released: 29 August 2024
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2 PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Genres: Adventure Indie Platformer Shooter Simulation Third-person shooter
Developers: —
Publishers: Maximum Entertainment
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Comedy Sandbox
Age ratings: USK 16 CLASS_IND 12 GRAC 15+PEGI 12 ACB M ESRB T
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat: 5hmain story7hwith extras8hcompletionist

About

Squirrel with a Gun is a 2024 indie action-adventure game developed by Dee Dee Creations and published by Maximum Entertainment. It was released on August 29, 2024, on Windows, and on October 15, 2024, for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. The player controls a squirrel that wields a gun as it escapes a secret underground facility and pesters the residents of a neighborhood. The game takes inspiration from the Yakuza franchise and Shadow of the Colossus and has been compared to games such as Untitled Goose Game and Goat Simulator.

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Squirrel with a Gun, players take control of an ordinary squirrel that wields various firearms to navigate a suburban environment. The game is primarily a sandbox experience, where players can explore the world, interact with objects, and engage in combat with NPCs, including local residents and agents attempting to capture the squirrel. The squirrel's primary ability is using guns, of which it has a multitude of weapons that it can use ranging from pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, and a RPG. These weapons can be used to kill the enemy "agents" that pursue the squirrel throughout the game or can be used to clear platforming puzzles that reward a collectable item, a golden acorn.

In addition to fighting enemies, players can engage in non-violent activities such as stealing food from residents or helping NPCs complete tasks. While the game's tone is humorous and chaotic, it also includes stealth elements, allowing the squirrel to sneak past enemies or set up ambushes. The squirrel also has a range of costumes it can wear.

Story

A gray squirrel breaks into a top-secret lab and mistakenly eats a special hard drive that is shaped like an acorn, enhancing its intelligence. This triggers a lockdown, prompting agents to pursue it. Upon seeing a handgun dropped nearby it, the squirrel takes it and uses it to escape the secret underground facility and cause havoc in a residential neighborhood.

As the squirrel wreaks destructive chaos, it battles against the endless agents attempting to capture it, including their leaders, Father and Mother.

Reception

The PC, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 version of Squirrel with a Gun all received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received weak approval, being recommended by only 33% of critics.

Travis Northup for IGN rated the game 6/10, praising the gameplay as a squirrel, but condemns a few technical issues faced when played. He also stated that the squirrel is "like a furry John Wick."