This interview took place before Squirrel With a Gun’s release.
Squirrel With a Gunis very much a game that lives up to its title, as players take on the role of a squirrel who wields guns. Pursued by men in black, the squirrel seeks out acorns and shoots down attack helicopters, all while mugging hapless humans in the quest for more acorns.
Squirrel With a Gundeveloper Dan DeEntremont spoke to Game Rant about what makes the indie stand out from otheranimal mayhem games likeGoat Simulator, with the main difference being thatSquirrel With a Gunis ultimately a platformer.
High-Flying Rodent Action
Thanks to the physics of firearms inSquirrel With a Gun, the force of a shot can be enough to make something light fling off in the opposite direction. The forces at play are, naturally, exaggerated, but let the player’s squirrel launch itself into the air. This, explained DeEntremont, is a core gameplay mechanic, and one that makes a lot of things possible from a design perspective.
I’d say the game hasa bit of a platforming and puzzling edgeto it … Basically, there’s seven or so guns in the game where the squirrel can use their recoil to fire and launch himself farther, and be able to clear big gaps or things like that. Each gun has its own ability to change platforming: there’s a submachine gun that when you fire it down, you’re kind of jetpacking around a little bit until the magazine runs out.
Among the game’s varied guns, each has different properties when it comes to recoil-enabled flight. In addition to the submachine gun, the game’s rocket launcher can send the squirrel sky-high, whereas the grenade launcher has little benefit as a flight propellant. This variety allows the squirrel to tackle different platforming challenges and get access to difficult-to-reach areas throughout the game’s world.
Not only will these challenges lead to acorns, including the illustrious Golden Acorns, but they may be involved in helping out the humans of the neighborhood. Of course, the squirrel could hold them upwith its impressive arsenaland demand acorns, but the humans also offer quests with rewards for enterprising rodents.
DeEntremont promises combat against agents, tanks, and attack helicopters, something that will undoubtedly appeal to fans of animal mayhem games. In addition, the game features cutscenes, boss fights, and a loose narrative.
Why Does a Squirrel Have a Gun?
The story begins with a squirrel running around in a secret underground bunker before discovering something DeEntremont described as a “thingamajig” or “doohickey” that resembles a Golden Acorn. Being a squirrel, naturally the criter steals this acorn, and themysterious men in black–the agents–seek to capture the squirrel and get their McGuffin back.
He [the squirrel] sees a thingamajig that kind of looks like a golden acorn to the squirrel, and then it goes and grabs it and just gets pursued by these secret agents for the rest of the game–and as such, he must defend himself … The squirrel grabs it, and then these agents come along, and they’re not happy about it, and so they’re pursuing the squirrel throughout the game to presumably try and get this back, or just maybe have a bit of a vengeance on it.
When asked if the other Golden Acorns in the game are also these special thingamajigs, DeEntremont responded with a firm “They might be!” To the squirrel, though, they’re just acorns, and shiny ones at that. They’re there to act as a collectible and an incentive to explore, as well as a reason for the agents to pursue the squirrel more intensely.
The comedic tone typical of games in this genre is absolutely present, asSquirrel With a Gunfeatures a scene where the squirrelstuffs an agent’s head into the barrel of its gun. Another one of the game’s zany elements was given a deep dive by DeEntremont: cowboy squirrels.
We also have a six-shooter for a cowboy area. You can get a cowboy hat that increases your proficiency with the six-shooter, you’d be able to use it to fire more shots to go farther … We got lots of hats. We got a trench coat. We’ve got a dress. We’ve got one of those big fancy Kentucky Derby hats. Of course, we have our cowboy hat. And these outfits have additional perks to them. You might come across an acorn beret and an eye patch, which increases the damage when the squirrel snaps necks.
DeEntremont also detailed a “bomb suit” made up of an outfit and helmet that allows the squirrel to run through a field of landmines, ragdolling the whole way. The game doesn’t take itself seriously at all, an important trait in animal mayhem games, but it does have more structure and story than the average game in the genre.
Squirrel With a Gunmay be poised to add a new dimension to the genre of animal mayhem, particularly the Z-axis. That, plus its entertaining gameplay and thetrappings of a proper platformer,giveSquirrel With a Guna chance to make a serious impression on a small but growing genre.
