As a huge fan of games that venture off into odd and often unexplored territories of their own, looking to discover some new combination of elements that can help them stand out, Squirrel with a Gun had an immediate and easy appeal for me just by name. A small animal wielding a deadly weapon? There’s just something about that combination that screams at you needing to at least give it a look. The good news is that the overall experience is about as crazy as you could imagine, and probably just a little more than most people would guess. The bad news is that for all of its odd charm, mechanically it’s almost as skittish as the animal the game revolves around.

With a premise like this the story is obviously a bit of an afterthought, but it all begins when your furry protagonist somehow ends up in a government facility, and decides that some top secret gadget looks like an acorn. Of course, when a bunch of agents show up to investigate the little critter manages to arm themselves, and from there it’s all platforming and assorted mayhem that you can look forward to. In particular, the fact that you’re able to exploit recoil to propel yourself across gaps and slowly outfit them with assorted gear makes it clear that any sense of realism is completely out of the question. But if you’re willing to roll with it that unpredictability can open the door to all sorts of weird and wacky fun.

Unfortunately, getting into the nuts and bolts of the overall experience, not everything is ideal. Specifically, given the amount of focus that the game has on platforming I do wish the controls weren’t quite so erratic. While I suppose you could consider the scampering around you’ll be doing to be fitting for an animal that tends to be skittish by nature, trying to be precise with that concept defining the state of the controls does tend to make them aggravating at times. While thankfully you can usually get the camera at a decent angle for seeing where you’ll be landing, there are also times where you’ll wish it didn’t feel like your character was hopped up on Red Bull. Regardless, if you can be patient with the game’s different quirks, there’s quite a lot to have fun with here, both with elements that you’d expect and some off-the-wall silliness that should catch you by surprise. It may not be for everyone, but for weirdo game aficionados it’s well worth giving a try.