Release Date: 20/09/2019
Played On: Win
Available On: Mac / NS / Win
Time Played: 2h 3m
Progress: Completed
Developer: House House
Publisher: Panic Inc
These days there seems to be a regular turnover of silly little games that end up doing the rounds on every YouTube and Twitch channel you can find. Most of the time they're just thoughtless meme games that allow whatever personality to act like a bit of an idiot for the entertainment of others, so I tend to avoid paying attention when these kind of games surface. I never felt compelled to play Goat Simulator, and I doubt I ever will. So why did a short little game about a goose catch my eye?
I'd heard about Untitled Goose Game from a few different podcasts here and there, but it had always been talked about as a kind of hipster-indie game. For a while there I had this weird impression of this goose game existing, but it would be far too experimental and full of references I would never understand. Such is the case for many games that get talked about in this way, so I never gave the goose game much thought at all.
That is until I watched a video of someone I follow playing the first half hour or so on their YouTube channel. Thankfully I didn't watch some other folks playing it, as they would have spoiled the entire game for me. Instead I got to have a little taste of what this game was about, and I couldn't help being interested.
To put it simply, Untitled Goose Game is a short puzzle game where you play as a goose on the loose. Many of us have probably heard that geese can be a bit annoying in real life, and this game cashes in on that notion entirely. The whole point of the game is to mess with the inhabitants of a small town in many different and interesting ways.
However, this wasn't what caught my eye when I watched the start of the game online. I actually knew that I wanted to play Untitled Goose Game for myself when I say the wonderfully smooth and fluid animations and overall presentation that the game can happily boast. As soon as you see the world in motion for the first time, it's hard to miss the complete eye-candy on offer in this game. Even distilled down to the simple set of animations applied to the eponymous goose, there's enough swag in that waddle to completely win me over.
The whole game features a relatively simplistic and abstract "flat" aesthetic in its graphics. That is to say that everything is made up of basic shapes, coloured by blocks of flat colour. While the palette is varied, there's a slightly muted tone to all the colours, so what we end up seeing is a scene of soft simplicity, coloured by understated tones of diverse hues.
What this means for the player is that everything on screen is easy to read at a glance. Although simplicity doesn't always dictate a lack of complexity, which is where the animations come in. In fact it's a blessing that our embodied goose has such slick animations, as we'll be looking at them for the entirety of the game. Thankfully this means that untitled goose game manages to rise above simplicity for simplicity's sake, and actually push an aesthetic choice that bleeds into gameplay and mechanical systems as well.
Then again, maybe I just fell in love with the way that they made that goose waddle around on screen. Apparently it's really easy to perceive a bunch of personality and character from a little bit of a waddle, some wing flapping, and the occasional honk.
Those are the options available to you as you move through the world as a goose. You also have the option to run instead of walk, and the essential mechanic of lowering or raising your head and picking up items with your beak. With these controls and abilities, we're able to take on the world of Untitled Goose Game and manipulate its inhabitants in some truly creative and satisfying ways.
Before you rush off and watch Untitled Goose Game online, let me offer you a warning. This is essentially a puzzle game at heart, so it's impossible to avoid spoilers for certain solutions and methods of progression. What's more, this is a small game that can be beaten in a single sitting, so there's a good chance that your favourite online gamer has done the entire game and uploaded the whole thing. Do yourself a favour and limit your viewing to a short sample that shows how the game works in motion, then go ahead and play it for yourself. One of the best parts about playing this game is the joy of discovery, so try not to short change your own experience with spoilers.
That being said, I will be using a few examples from the first part of the game, so if you don't want to know too much about the mechanics then I'll catch you on the next post. The screenshots here should be enough to give you a little bit of a feel for the aesthetic, and please take my word that it's a well-polished game that's worth your time.
The main thing you'll be doing in Untitled Goose Game is tackling a literal to-do list of activities for the four main hubs of the game. You start off by terrorising a gardener in his garden, before heading off through the town to mess with a couple of neighbours, a kid playing in the street, and a lovely little pub round the corner. Each of these locations feature a multitude of items and people to interact with and create mischief, but the game also allows for further exploration and experimentation that will really put a smile on your face.
However, the actual moment-to-moment gameplay is a mix between goose-stealth and goose-anarchy. In the garden for example, one list item tasks you with collecting a number of items and stashing them away at a specific point. Some of the items are easy to find and acquire, but others pose a bit of a challenge.
After all, the gardener isn't all that fond of some random goose walking into his garden and stealing his only jar of jam. It's easy enough to find (sitting there openly on his table), but as soon as you pilfer the sweet condiment, you better make a run for it fast. As soon as that gardener spots you with his red and white jar in your mouth, he'll chase you down and take it back.
Most of the time our goose isn't fast enough to out-run the gardener in a straight chase, so you need to be a little crafty to steal these items unnoticed. You can either get a good lead on him and head for the pond where you're able to out-swim his pursuit, or take it slow and stay out of sight. Often it might even be good to get a little creative and distract the gardener by damaging something on the other side of the garden, only to then slip out with your quarry while he attends to the disturbance.
That's just one item, but everything you have to do throughout the game follows a similar series of events. Just about all of the items on the to-do like involve taking or interacting with something in a way that the people in the game take issue with. The challenge is to set up a series of events that will allow you to get away with whatever nefarious deed you choose to tackle next.
The interesting thing is that after I'd beaten Untitled Goose Game in my own way, I went back and watched a couple of videos online of other gamers solving the same puzzles, and while most were tackled in the same way, each version yielded its own variations. Apparently there's just enough freedom in the game to allow for some creative problem solving and different approaches to solutions, which is nice to know.
In fact, as I mentioned earlier, there are a bunch of "hidden" objectives that are only revealed when you accomplish them (or in new game plus). Some of these extra objectives involve a fair bit of creative setup to make happen, so it's a nice way to encourage you to try more than the items you're given on the normal to-do list. Thankfully they don't always remain hidden, so completionists will avoid some frustration there, but it's nice to have that extra carrot-on-a-stick to motivate exploration and discovery.
With a game as straight forward as Untitled Goose Game, this layer of discovery is an essential part of the experience. I don't think I would have enjoyed the game half as much if I didn't have a constant interest in finding out "what happens if I do…" whatever. It means that you're easily encouraged to mess around with the world and its NPCs in ways that aren't simply focused on the task at hand.
Having this extra layer of interest may in fact be the key to Untitled Goose Game for me. After all, everything else in the game is reduced and simplified to a point where everything is easy to look at, and there are only ever a few controls to think about at a time. To me this means that if there were only a list of things to do, I'd probably get bored of simply going through the motions until the credits rolled. Happily though, the basics of the game end up being a joy, because it's easy to know whether a set of actions failed to work because you pressed the wrong button, or because you just had the wrong idea. I really hate that feeling when I'm not sure if something isn't working because the game has bad controls, or if I need to rethink it better. Thankfully that isn't the case with Untitled Goose Game.
On top of everything else, is a fantastic soundtrack that adds a real stack of personality and fun to the game in surprising and very entertaining ways. As you run around terrorising the neighbourhood, incidental piano flourishes with highlight your actions and react to your cheeky little goose's behaviour. It's a lot of fun to be sneaking up behind someone in total silence, only to grab something their carrying and run off to the sound of a jaunty piano tune.
By using this dynamic soundtrack, the game consistently feels a little cheeky. Combined with that smooth little waddle as you walk about, suddenly a simple goose of only a few flat colours has turned into a loveable little scamp of a bird. You can't help being excited about what antics this mischievous bugger of a goose will get up to next.
People often debate the value of smaller/shorter games, which I'm not going to try and convince anyone to change their mind on. However, I honestly feel like I got my money's worth with Untitled Goose Game, even though it's definitely short and small in the grand scheme of things.
What really matters with a small game is the overall quality of the experience, and Untitled Goose Game has that nailed from front to back. It really feels like the creators have managed to implement everything they intended to implement, and give it all a good polish before sending it out into the world.
There's a real art to bringing so much personality and character to what is essentially a simple puzzle game at its base. It's only thanks to some clever design, talented developers, and that wonderfully dynamic soundtrack, that Untitled Goose Game goes well and truly beyond the sum of its parts.
I may tend to write off so-called "meme" games when everyone and their mother seems to be playing them in videos on the internet, but I've learned that's a bit short-sighted. After all, a game's popularity should never dictate its quality, so thanks to this game, I might look at the next "new hotness" a little bit differently. In many ways, Untitled Goose Game has potentially made me a better person, and what's more honourable than that.
Actually I'd also like to offer a special shout out and thanks to the developers who have included an acknowledgement of country in the game's credits. For those who don't live in Australia, this means that there's a paragraph in the credits that acknowledge the original inhabitants and owners of the land we live in. It's a common sign of respect to highlight which traditional nation you are living and working on as an immigrant to Australia, and I was absolutely thrilled to see it show up in this little game's credits.
I can't remember seeing it in other games, but I may have simply missed it in other instances. Nevertheless, a big shout out to the developers for doing what they can to act responsibly and ethically in their own field. I hope every Australian developer continues to use their craft for the betterment of our society in similar ways.