The Indie Informer

Squirrel with a Gun is unbelievably stupid. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as its synopsis comes across like a hilarious fever dream. A not-so-ordinary squirrel escapes a secret government facility and dedicates its nut-collecting existence to filling hostile agents with bullets in a quaint suburban neighborhood. It’s a ridiculous game that knows exactly what it is, and I’ve had a fun time relishing in its absurdity.

Despite the title, the game has more in common with platforming collect-a-thons like Banjo-Kazooie and wacky physics sandboxes like Goat Simulator than a pure shooter like Call of Duty. The adventure’s crux centers on gathering hundreds of scattered acorns, including more valuable golden equivalents. Filling the squirrel’s cheeks with these nuts unlocks new weapons and, more importantly, additional parts of the neighborhood to explore. I’m happy that the game quickly branches beyond its suburban aesthetic; in the nearly five hours I’ve played thus far, I’ve blasted cowboys in a Wild West saloon, ridden sky-high waterslides in a colorful waterpark, and even battled a tank in an underground government facility. 

As someone who always obsesses over collecting stars in 3D Mario games, I quickly settled into the familiar satisfaction of poking around this zany world to find as many golden acorns as possible. Scaling light poles, bouncing on trampolines, or driving RC cars up skate ramps to reach these seeds offer solid thrills, but the game’s silliness shines brightest in its puzzle-solving. From spinning on a stripper pole while onlookers make it rain acorns to reuniting a bride with her missing, drunken groom, I always look forward to seeing what ludicrous riddle the game will throw at me next. Since there’s no mission log or any obvious direction, I like that I’m encouraged to simply try something and see if it results in getting an acorn. Connecting environmental dots, such as finding a basketball hoop near a garbage bin filled with balls, often leads to a reward and a funny one-off gag (such as the hoop reacting unexpectedly to scoring a basket).  

As the title suggests, the squirrel fends off agents by blasting them with firearms, such as a pistol, shotgun, and Uzi. Given the squirrel’s small size and how big these weapons are in its tiny hands, it spices up the otherwise competent gunplay with a fun “little person in a big world” perspective; it’s as if the minuscule cast of Honey I Shrunk the Kids packed a ton of heat. The visual of a rodent holding a weapon twice its size is funny alone, but seeing the squirrel unleash flashy (albeit repetitive) executions with such a gratuitous amount of point-blank shots that even John Wick would say “Chill, bro” is ridiculous in the best way.

I’d believe you if you said Squirrel With a Gun was spawned out of Garry’s Mod given its seemingly low-budget appearance and Gumby-esque rubber characters. It works as the game gives the idea that it’s a bizarre proof-of-concept experiment that could break at any moment and only occasionally follows through. Obliterating Agents with a rocket launcher feels even sweeter when their bodies ragdoll through buildings. Watching enemies occasionally sink into floors or clip through walls can be annoying, but these occurrences feed into the idea that Squirrel With a Gun is someone’s incoherent acid dream where things just kind of happen because “reasons”. These bugs, intended or otherwise, can become annoying, however. The aforementioned clash with an underground tank suffered a mid-fight lull due to the tank getting stuck inside a wall for minutes. Thankfully, that’s been the most egregious technical meltdown so far, so fingers crossed any hitches remain on the harmless (read: humorous) end. 

As a whole, Squirrel with a Gun is a competent 3D platformer that is largely carried by its non-stop barrage of entertaining stupidity. I’m having decent fun simply engaging in its core gameplay, but I smile the most when I think about what insane scenario the game still has waiting in the wings. I’m not sure how much more mileage I’ll get out of its comedy, but I’m happy to feel like I’m going nuts while collecting them for the time being.