Untitled Goose Game (Switch) Review – finding your inner HONK

Untitled Goose Game is best described as the virtual, interactive embodiment of the AnimalsBeingJerks subreddit, and it is extremely entertaining! Not only is it is highly likely to linger in your mind as one of the most amusing titles you’ve ever played, but gameplay is also a blast to watch as a bystander. This deceptively complicated, low stress puzzle game hatches from a simple concept: You’re a gleefully mischievous goose who’s life’s mission seems to be to drive the residents of a small town completely bonkers.

Gameplay

Untitled Goose Game has a fantastic sense of humor immediately evident from the start of the game. You will receive a check list of cheeky to-do items to finish in each area of the town you explore, such as “rake in the lake”, “go shopping”, “make the old man fall on his bum”. You’ll accomplish these tasks through clever manipulation of both the objects and the humans in the various environments.

For instance, in the above image the goose sneakily pulled the stool out from under the old man when he went to sit, one of the simpler tasks. I thought about sharing more complex examples, but the game is fairly short and I had such a great time figuring out all the puzzles that I don’t want to ruin them for readers even a little.

What I will say is that the humans have a set of activities they go about doing, interrupted by whatever problems you cause that you can use to your strategic advantage. You can channel you inner cat by knocking everything imaginable off of counters and walls, making the humans go crazy trying to shoo you away and clean it up. This will give you an opportunity to pursue your tasks while they are distracted. There are also some stealth elements where you’ll have to go unseen by the humans to complete your objectives, else they will stop you. To-do task challenges ramp up in difficulty quickly as you progress.

Visuals, audio, and everything else

The graphics in Untitled Goose Game are simple yet look wonderful. The “less is more” strategy really works here! The goose is animated faithfully to life, from its awkward, ungainly waddle to the way it flaps it wings defensively when a human gets too close. Its small, beady eyes look innocent but this is always a lie. You can honk or flap your wings whenever you like, which is amusing and gives the player an additional way to express themselves.

In my case this just made me temporarily hate my boyfriend because when he took a turn playing, he wouldn’t stop honking. (Note: House House is not liable for personal injury resulting from excessive or irresponsible honking.)

The controls function well and the music is a light, classical, adaptive piano soundtrack. Adaptive meaning that the piano plays slower and quieter when you sneak and faster and louder when you are running or being chased. When you finish the game, which is about 3-4 hours long, you can start a new one with a set of harder, more complicated to-do lists, so be sure to stick around through the credits.

My single complaint is that humans would occasionally bug out and coast along the ground as if on invisible roller blades instead of walking properly. Additionally some players might become frustrated while waiting on a human to take a specific action so that they can complete a to-do item, as sometimes it takes a minute for the human to cycle through their activity loop. Personally, this didn’t bother me, but I can see how it might annoy others at times.

Final Thoughts

Untitled Goose Game is a unique, chuckle-inducing gaming experience full of pure, distilled fun that is easily worth your time and money. If this title appeals to you even a little, it’s a good bet that you will enjoy it immensely! The game releases today on the Switch and PC at a 25% launch discount and I can pretty much guarantee you won’t regret the purchase. Untitled Goose Game earns 9 HONKS out of 10.

Thanks for reading!

Game key kindly provided by Panic Inc. for the purposes of review.

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