At Summer Games Fest, we got to see the upcoming MOUSE: P.I. For Hire from Fumi Games and Playside. While we didn’t get to go hands-on with the game, the developers showed us a full early game mission, and the game does look impressive for still being in its early stages as the game was hand drawn frame by frame. For those that don’t know, the game is a first person shooter that throws back to the early cartoons from the 1920s and 1930, and, boy, does it look exactly like something from that era.

The level we saw had detective Jack Pepper, played by Troy Baker, go to a theater to get information from someone, however, things go awry, and he must stop an assassination attempt on a mayoral candidate while he’s there.The level had many winding turns stopping progress with Jack needing to find ways around the theater. There were parts that couldn’t be accessed, and the developers said you would gain abilities to get to the areas if you revisit the mission and you’ll find a new weapon or some upgrade. Then, there are collectibles hidden around such as newspapers which have a narrative influence or baseball cards which are part of a deck building game that can be played in the game’s main hub.

We saw a few different mechanics while watching such as the ability to either pay a waiter to avoid enemies or trying to find a way around them ourselves. Then, Jack is also able to pick locks using his tail, and locking gets challenging as we saw one lock had spikes within it. The overall gameplay is typical first person shooter fare, but Jack doesn’t just have access to normal guns like pistols, shotguns, and tommy guns. No, he, as the game is a cartoon, gains an arsenal of wacky guns that fit the universe of a cartoon such as a gun that melts the paint off of enemies, coffee that gives Jack a finger gun, or a freeze gun that completely freezes enemies from you to break apart.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is an artistically unique game that stands out among the typical games in the genre. For those excited, the game is set to launch later this year. You can see our full interview with  Maciej “Magic” Krzemień from Fumi Games below: