“press space to honk”
This is the first control you learn in developer House House’s 2019 release, “Untitled Goose Game.” It’s the most important control – it fully sets the tone for the absurd, comedic, chaotic, experience you’re about to have. Once you press the space bar, the titular goose’s head pops out of a bush, and you’re on your way to wreak absolute havoc on the inhabitants of a small village.
You are a goose.
“Untitled Goose Game” doesn’t have much of a plot, but it does have objectives that involve light stealth and puzzle-solving elements. The goose’s to-do list ranges from “have a picnic” to “trap the boy in the phone booth.” You can do things that aren’t in the objective list – steal a neighbor’s mail and drop it in the river? Sure! Play a harmonica, even though you are a goose? Yes!
The one thing you can’t do is be helpful. I tried, briefly, because I felt bad for terrorizing a gardener for no reason. But, despite my best efforts to help him harvest carrots, he still did not like the goose. The final straw was the “no goose” sign he hammered into the ground; I no longer felt pity. I embraced the chaos, and fully committed to pranking these villagers hard, with my large wings and loud honks.
The game’s appeal, beyond just checking off objectives and being a goose, is the juxtaposition of charm and chaos. The quaint village and characters are rendered in a stylized, cute art style, ripe to be fully torn apart by an equally adorable, yet terrible goose. Playing as the goose gives you freedom to be as chaotic as you want. There’s no “game over” if you fail to steal a knife – the item gets reset, you get shooed away, and you can try again to snatch it.
The stakes are low. You are a goose!
“Untitled Goose Game” also has a fascinating soundtrack. It’s reactive, meaning that the music shifts tone and speed depending on your goose antics. If the goose is still, the music stops completely. When the goose is just exploring or slowly beginning to sneak up on an unsuspecting villager, the music begins to pick up. The music comes in full speed and at full force when the goose is at its most chaotic – trapping someone in a garage or stealing a slipper and fleeing.
The soundtrack is comprised of various performances of Debussy’s “Preludes.” Composer Dan Golding played each of the public domain piano pieces twice through – once slowly and once at standard tempo. According to an interview with The Verge, Golding then cut these tracks into about 400 musical phrases that were then matched to the goose’s activity.
As there are so many possible combinations of musical phrases at different stages in the game, each player might end up with a musically distinct goose game experience. Between the variances in the soundtrack and the freedom a player has to explore and interact with the world, it’s possible that no two people might play through the game exactly the same way.
The goose game is good. The controls aren’t perfect – I got my goose stuck a few times while trying to take corners too tightly. And arguably, it’s not a lot of content for the price (“Untitled Goose Game” retails for $19.99, but is on sale for $14.99 for a limited time) – the main objectives only take about 2-3 hours to complete.
But, more objectives unlock post-credits, and also, I love the goose. (As does the internet – no shortage of good goose memes here.) “Untitled Goose Game” is a well-crafted game that delivers pure chaotic fun for fun’s sake. Sometimes, that’s all you need from a gaming experience.
“Untitled Goose Game” was developed by House House and published by Panic Inc.
It’s now available for purchase on Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac.