Cartoons from the 1920s have a certain charm to some, while others are disturbed by it. Simon Lukasik Studio and Feardemic took the route of the disturbed to tell a story of a dysfunctional family through the eyes of a mouse child trying to go about his day as normally as possible. This is Bad Cheese. I want to thank Feardemic for sending over a copy to review!
Bad Cheese puts players in the cartoonish oversized shoes of Child Mouse, who was left alone at home by his mother, who is out for the day, leaving him to do chores around the house and keep his Father happy, but things in the house are not as nice as they seem.
Now, onto the game itself! When it comes to the controls for Bad Cheese, they are limited and simple, which is nice, but there could be a bit more of a tutorial at the start. The sound design overall was good. I enjoyed the classic music that was used in some of the levels, helping add to the 1920s feel of the game. The voice cast is talented, and the voices of our main characters helped add to the classic cartoon aesthetic. The main selling point of the game, in my opinion, is the art. Hand-drawn, classic look, and unsettling… I love it!
When it comes to gameplay, you go around and explore the house while trying to complete tasks asked of you by your mother. Each level has food hidden that you can find and eat, as well as collectable toys. There are moments where you have to platform and use the environment around you to find snacks.
Now, this is where things get tricky, the story. I’m going to do my best to make this non-spoiler, so bear with me. From the start, it’s obvious that something is VERY wrong with this family; the more you explore, the more disturbing things become. The problem: there’s no clear resolution/closure for the players. It’s never made clear whether what we’re seeing is really happening or if it’s a delusion. There are many hints about what’s happening, but none of it is made clear by the end. Most horror games, especially ones in the psychological genre, always make things clear at the end of what the trauma is, and if the character has overcome it in some way, this actually makes players want to replay the game to see it from a different perspective now. There’s none of that here; the game, in my opinion, just ends, and it’s very unsatisfying.
The sudden end of the game leads me to this next critique. Overall, the game felt like a demo. It’s not a long game if you just bulldoze through and don’t try to find little secrets. That is probably the major thing I didn’t like about Bad Cheese.
Overall, Bad Cheese is a unique and creative game with a good atmosphere, art, music, and voice talent, but it needs work on the story and overall ending of the game. On my scale of 1-10, I give it a 7/10, as the gameplay is enjoyable, but the sudden end to the game without any real feeling of accomplishment affected the score.
Bad Cheese is out now for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, and PC.
