It might be just a little on the premature side to call one of 2020’s games of the year, but we know a sure-fire winner when we see one. A stealth-based raccoon-em-up? Sign us all the way up.
Now, as you’ve probably noticed, 2019 has been a year of all kinds of unfortunate events. There’s a lot to feel antsy about in this wide world of ours just now. All we can really do is roll with the punches, be positive forces for change wherever we can, and look forward to a brighter future. A 2020 with more silly animal sim titles would be a fantastic start.
There’s something about ridiculous titles like Goat Simulator that tap into something very special in our brains. Something that reminds us that video games are supposed to be about escapism, entertainment and silly fun, rather than taking our K/Ds far too seriously, ragequitting and/or firing off hatemail at players who are simply better than us (griefers and trolls, however, deserve what they get a lot of the time).
That’s the appeal of something like Goat Simulator or House House’s recent smash hit Untitled Goose Game. There’s no competitiveness, no stress, just a malevolent goose that wants to steal an innocent old man’s chair away from him without him noticing so he falls on his butt when he tries to sit down. The game has a incomparable, mischievous charm that will have you grinning from beginning to end, and we could all use a whole lot more of that in our lives. Which, hopefully, is where Wanted Raccoon will come in next year.
As reported on Indie DB, Wanted Raccoon is an upcoming title from an indie team of devs in Russia. Details are quite thin on the ground just now, but the team describe the game as “a raccoon simulator with elements of stealth,” and it’s looking like it’s going to be every bit as deliciously ridiculous as it sounds. Our heroic raccoon’s main enemies, the game’s Facebook page reports, are the kennel workers who seek to capture it. The raccoon must avoid detection, Solid Snake style (the stealthy soundtrack is incredibly appropriate, as the clips of the game in action back on Indie DB will testify), using familiar stealth game mechanics such as visible silhouettes of enemies through objects, hiding and leading them into/using traps to incapacitate them.
The raccoon can tie its pursuers up (though that isn’t animated, sadly,) as well as gather resources to craft tools like sleeping pills and other traps. In short, it’s all shaping up to be as brilliantly ridiculous as you hoped and it can’t come soon enough. Sadly, it has no release date just yet.
NEXT: This Untitled Goose Game Theme Will Probably Brick Your PS4 And Burn Down Your House
