I had the chance to sit down with the developers of Mouse: P.I. for Hire, a first-person shooter currently in development by Fumi Games. In a hands-off presentation shown to me by lead producer Maciej Krzemień and CEO/Game Director Mateusz Michalak at Gamescom, I was able to see quite a hefty chunk of gameplay, as well as get a little insight into the development process.
Fumi Games has a unique task put before them, after a video posted to TikTok by the game's lead programmer "went viral," as Krzemień explains. "It gained huge traction, like a huge amount of views, and back then, we already knew 'all right, people like this, we have something cool on our hands.'"
The challenge, as both developers highlight, is making sure that Mouse stands on its own two rubber hose legs: "Many people," Krzemień says, "upon seeing our game, tend to call it 'just a cool art project'. Others call it 'just another Boomer shooter'. And we know where that comes from, obviously, because we are heavily focused on the art, we are heavily focused on all the key elements that make an FPS game fun."
Mouse is also looking to be quite a pretty game, now that the studio's upped their environmental artwork: "If you are familiar with our previous trailers, previous materials, you may have noticed that our previous 3D environments were quite flat, rather simple, we were not really happy with them back then."
However, the devs at Fumi Games have some lofty ambitions for the title, wanting to help it reach escape velocity and go from viral hit to a genuinely solid game. In case you're curious as to what Mouse: P.l. for Hire actually is, here's the elevator pitch as was given to me in a cosy booth on a noisy Gamescom floor.
Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a metroidvania first-person shooter—with an emphasis on the metroidvania part. There'll be movement upgrades, such as a helicopter glide and a grappling hook (both achieved by using your mouse tail), as well as "NPC interactions with their own questlines … some minigames, some detective elements, and pretty adult, deep, gripping, dark storylines."
At first blush, the mention of adult storylines had me wondering if Mouse was just trying to be edgy with its legally-distinct visuals. A little unfair of me, but given Steamboat Willie entered the public domain to a tidal wave of horror indies that wanted to make use of the proto-mouse, not entirely unprompted.
The more I'm shown their ideas, though, the more I have hope for something that actually uses its inspirations for some thoughtful satire. The game is set in the fictional city of Mouseberg in the 1930s after an economic crisis, and follows a World War One veteran named Jack: "We are not avoiding serious topics like political extremities, racial segregation, poverty, social inequality—in a way, Mouse is the dark, twisted reflection of 1950s America."
It remains to be seen whether Fumi Games can pull this off, though. After the presentation, I asked Michalak about just how the studio'll be tackling those themes: "We are always looking to be very respectful with the themes that we are touching on, and some of them are pretty serious". The flavour of that discussion, he notes, will still have an element of satirical humour to it: "Basically, think of Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator."
On paper, at least, I really like the idea. Mouse roots its visual style in "Rubber hose" animation, which had its start in the 1920s. Disney as a studio has several cartoons using the style in its vault, some featuring overtly racist caricatures and problematic themes reflective of the period in which they were made, so refusing to simply shy away from that entire discussion seems a creatively solid, if ambitious, play on behalf of Fumi Games. It's a genuinely refreshing step up from the 'what if not-Mickey had a gun and smoked a big fat cigar' pothole Mouse could've easily sleepwalked into.
I am, genuinely, quite impressed with what I saw of Mouse and the enthusiasm buoying its developers—though with that enthusiasm comes a worry that the studio might be trying to bite off more than it can chew, given the clear impression I got that the game's scope has ballooned over time. Still, I'm rooting for it. Mouse: P.I. for Hire plans to release in 2025.
