Geese are jerks

They're big, they're mean, and they seem to take a special delight in messing with humans. All of this, of course, means that it's a lot of fun to play a game as a goose. The Untitled Goose Game is a unique piece of design that doesn't make any big statements about life and it doesn't revolutionize the way game stories work, but it does let you have fun playing around as the worst animal with wings.

Concept

The concept of this game is both dumb and brilliant at the same time. Geese are awful creatures that seem to go out of their way to ruin human lives, so this game puts you directly into the body of one of these terrible birds. Your entire goal in this game is to ruin the days of a bunch of people in a small town, mostly by completing one puzzle at a time.

The game is, in a way, a little like a feathery Hitman. You'll be looking for environmental interactions, studying the actions of your targets, and using a combination of stealth and guile to proceed. It's a hilarious take on the genre that works better than it should.

Graphics & Audio

There's nothing particularly impressive about the graphics in this game, but there doesn't need to be. There might be someone out there that is chomping at the bit for a hyper-realistic goose game, but the stylized graphics here really fit the tone of the game well. Considering how simple the game's concept is, it would almost be a shame if the art style could be taken too seriously.

The sound design is a little better, though. The goose sounds like a goose, the people sound suitably annoyed, and the world around you sounds alive. You really can't ask for more than that in a game like this, though you almost wish there was some kind of catchy theme song to wrap it all up.

Game Play

At its heart, the Untitled Goose Game is a combination of a puzzler and a stealth game. You're going to move around the world doing various tasks in order to progress, and doing so generally means finding a good balance between causing mayhem and sneaking around. There is absolutely no reason why the gameplay should be in any way engaging, yet it works. There's something about the way the animation and controls work together that really make this game a lot of fun.

At its best, this is a game about causing havoc while controlling an awful animal. At its worst, the gameplay can be a little finicky and the camera doesn't quite work as well as it should. As a whole, though, most players will enjoy the game itself.

Conclusion - Replayability

The Untitled Goose Game is a short, sweet little game that is sure to elicit a few laughs from anyone who plays. It's imperfect, but it still manages to nail its goal of making you feel like a bird with a bad attitude. There's nothing here that really makes a statement or that's going to influence the direction of games for years to come, but it's nonetheless a game that's worth playing.

The Untitled Goose Game is a game about ruining the days of innocent people, making it a fairly realistic goose simulator.