PI for Rent than cartoon violence

Mouse: PI for Rent is loads deeper than I initially assumed. When the sport first caught buzz in Might 2023 with an early teaser populated by placeholder belongings, I didn’t perceive the hype. The artwork model was positively cool — Mouse is a black-and-white first-person shooter impressed by Nineteen Thirties rubber hose cartoons, that includes bipedal rodents dressed like mobsters — however with none details about the gameplay loop, mechanics or narrative path, I remained unmoved.

After seeing Mouse in motion at Summer Game Fest 2025, think about me movin’. Mouse is mechanically nuanced and totally voice-acted, starring Troy Baker as the protagonist, and it has extra to supply than shock-value cartoon violence. It is a clue-gathering, photo-snapping, girlfriend-avenging, noir detective simulator that occurs to star a bunch of slick-talking mice and rats, and I’m totally into it.

In a non-public session at SGF, Fumi Video games CEO Mateusz Michalak and lead producer Maciek Krzemien performed via the sport’s third stage, Gumshoe within the Opera, and mentioned their intentions with the sport. Krzemien stated the crew didn’t need to merely lean on the artwork model on the expense of gameplay, they usually targeted on constructing a wealthy world with layered mechanics. Since that preliminary teaser got here out, they’ve been fleshing out characters, drawing belongings by hand, implementing puzzles and secrets and techniques, and tweaking particular person weapons in order that they really feel excellent.

In Gumshoe within the Opera, the protagonist Jack Pepper is investigating his girlfriend’s homicide and he’s backstage on the theater, on the lookout for a good friend who is perhaps concerned. Baker makes for a positive Nineteen Thirties non-public eye, with a deep voice and a Boardwalk Empire twang. The supporting characters are voiced, too, they usually are likely to have a higher-pitched, henchman model of gangster communicate. Mousey, you would say.

Pepper fills up a 16-slot weapon wheel as he finds new weapons and instruments, together with a flashlight, dynamite, Tommy gun, hookshot, pistol, shotgun and a turpentine blaster. The turpentine gun is ridiculous in one of the simplest ways — because the characters on this world are cartoons, it melts their pores and skin away prefer it’s paint after which dissolves their skeletons. Killing enemies with a standard gun leaves them mendacity in swimming pools of black blood, typically with lacking heads, and the sport’s environments have destructible components. The combination of mature violence and basic cartoon artwork is surprisingly joyful, and it appears Fumi acquired the steadiness excellent.

Most enemies in Mouse take a couple of hits earlier than happening, however headshots are a factor and a well-aimed blast can positively flatten a mobster (mouse-ster?) in a single blow. I didn’t get an opportunity to play the sport myself, however now that I’m totally seated on the Mouse hype practice, I’m curious to really feel the gunplay firsthand. I’ve a way it’s going to be tougher than Krzemien made it appear.

The preview was roughly half capturing motion, half investigation and exploring. When he’s not in a firefight, Pepper climbs via vents and sneaks round backstage, gathering corked well being pots, a espresso cup and weapons alongside the best way. The espresso cup turns Pepper’s hand right into a finger gun, which he makes use of to quickly pew pew pew his method via enemies. He learns find out how to double-jump and is ready to backtrack via the extent with this new capability, choosing up further provides and a hidden buying and selling card — for the card-based minigame, after all. A lockpick mechanic has gamers snake their well beyond spikes to finish a small maze contained in the lock. In a single second, Pepper takes a photograph of somebody via a small window and it’s saved for later, hinting at a bigger clue-organizing mechanic. Krzemien stated that after this part, Pepper will return to his workplace to piece collectively the proof.

There are quite a lot of layers to Mouse: PI for Rent. Perhaps it’s my fault for being stunned by the depth on this recreation or the care being proven by builders at Fumi, however at the least now, I lastly get it. Mouse is because of hit Steam, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox Sequence X/S and Change this yr, revealed by PlaySide.