Squirrel with a Gun is Nuts
Samantha Trzinski, Contributing Editor
The premise is simple: the player breaks into an underground secret facility to steal a well-guarded item and is then relentlessly pursued by agents who are tasked with retrieving it. Armed with various guns, ranging from a handgun to a grenade launcher, the player continues to search for more of the items from the secret facility while stopping anyone who gets in their way. What makes this game stand apart from other shooters is its squirrely protagonist – literally. Dee Dee Creations’s recent action-adventure game Squirrel with a Gun has the player assume the role of a reckless and violent rodent with a passion for firearms. The item that the player steals? Every squirrel’s dream: a golden acorn.
Screenshot by the author.
As part of their promotion for Squirrel with a Gun’s release, Dee Dee Creations has been livestreaming actual squirrels with guns – a premise that would have any nature lover feeling a bit uneasy. The store page for the game on Steam featured a live video of squirrels with various weapons and items from the game, including its iconic toy car that costs a whopping 400 in-game acorns. The squirrels are, of course, safe, as the video merely features prop guns.
Though real squirrels may struggle to use guns, the game’s protagonist can handle any weapon that it gets its paws on. After breaking free from the underground facility in which the player obtains their first golden acorn, they then find themselves in a suburban neighborhood. The streets and houses are full of acorns – both traditional (i.e. from a tree) and golden – as well as other collectibles, including reload wheels, bullet pine cones, outfits, and accessories. The reload wheels allow the player to hold more bullets at a time, and the bullet pine cones are, as their name suggests, pine cones made of bullets with which the player can reload their weapon. Outfits and accessories are mostly meant for aesthetics. However, some outfits,like the bomb suit, serve additional in-game purposes, like immunity from explosions or increased neck-snapping damage. Agents from the secret facility roam the neighborhood, too, in search of the trigger-happy squirrel. The player must defeat these agents and find the collectibles in order to progress.
Screenshot by the author.
Defeating these agents is relatively simple as the game is filled with weapons of varying calibers. If they find themselves without a weapon, the player can climb and snap enemies’ necks with their bare paws. If armed, the player can take the straightforward approach and shoot the agents with their gun of choice. Once the agent falls, the player can either shoot them once more to defeat them (“Boring,” I hear you saying), or they can get closer to complete a cinematic takedown. The corresponding cutscenes for the takedown differ depending on the gun that is being used, but they all seem ripped from the scenes of an action film. Imagine a squirrel, leaping backwards in slow-motion while firing a gun. The agent, stunned and confused, is powerless to stop the bullet as it hits him.
The game is filled with such cinematics, which contribute to its action-movie style. Another combat feature allows the player to slow down time for a few seconds, thereby letting the squirrel live out his Keanu-Reevesian fantasy. Squirrel with a Gun is an homage to various mainstream action films The opening scene of the game seems straight from Mission: Impossible as the squirrel sneaks around the secret facility to steal the golden acorn. The ability to slow down time mirrors Neo’s abilities to affect the world around him in The Matrix. The squirrel’s vendetta (though its source is unknown) and its aptitude for weapons handling make it “like a furry John Wick,” according to IGN journalist Travis Northup.
Squirrel with a Gun is so much more than a game about…well, a squirrel with a gun. It is also full of puzzling side quests for the player to complete. The player can attend a cookout and deliver freshly grilled burgers to four hungry guests, or they can bring a birthday cake to a sorrowful man with a party hat. They can explore a building aptly named the “Spicy House,” and traverse pools of lava to reach the upper story where an outfit and multiple golden acorns await. These puzzles are not necessarily difficult, but they add a nuance to the game that allows it to be more than just a shooter. Our protagonist is a squirrel on a mission. It may be a mission of chaos and destruction – but there is also some goodness hiding behind its fluffy exterior.
Screenshot by the author.
There are some questions that I have after playing Squirrel with a Gun, though, that go beyond simply asking why a squirrel should need a gun in the first place. Why was this secret facility creating and/or guarding golden acorns? Why is there a house full of lava? Why did the agents decide that an armored tank was the best way to stop the squirrel? Certainly, the questions do not need to be answered, as this game is…well, a video game. It does not have to make sense in order to be fun. These unanswered questions also contribute to the game’s nonsensical mood and leave the player questioning if there is something more for which they should be looking. Is it just a squirrely video game, or is there some hidden lore? I’m not so sure, though, that there are deeper meanings to Squirrel with a Gun. Maybe it is enough for us simply to put aside our human emotions for a few hours and be a little squirrely.
