Mouse: PI For Hire launched on April 16 across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC, and Kotaku's Zack Zwiezen spent 13 hours with it, collected every clue, and came away calling it one of the best first-person shooters he's played in years. That's a big statement for a game that started life as a 2023 trailer curiosity with a striking visual gimmick and not much else known about it.
A noir mystery that actually holds up
The game stars Jack Pepper, an anthropomorphic mouse, war veteran, and former cop turned private detective operating in a city populated entirely by talking mice and shrews. When an old war buddy, now a famous magician, goes missing, Jack gets pulled into a case involving organized crime, a Nazi-inspired political faction, creepy monsters, and robots. Yes, really.
The story leans into its political allegory hard enough that Kotaku's review acknowledges it can feel heavy-handed at times. The Nazi-like party rounding up shrews who are already treated as second-class citizens is not subtle. But the noir framework holds together well enough that the mystery kept Zwiezen hunting for clues across every level, pinning them to Jack's corkboard, and connecting the dots through to the end.
What the cartoon art style actually delivers
The rubberhose animation aesthetic, inspired by cartoons from the 1930s, is the first thing that catches your eye. The concern with any game built around a distinctive visual style is that it wears thin fast, with every level looking and feeling like the last. Mouse doesn't fall into that trap.
Devs Fumi Games and publisher Playside Studios use the classic cartoon framework to move through a genuinely varied set of environments: back alleys and seaside docks sit alongside creepy swamps, strange labs, and movie sets. Each level pulls from animation tropes of the '30s and '40s in ways that feel like a curated greatest-hits collection rather than a one-note aesthetic stretched too thin. Plants with faces, spiders wearing shoes, dancing slugs. The details are everywhere if you take the time to look.
info
Mouse: PI For Hire is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC. The main campaign runs approximately 12 to 13 hours.
The shooting is the main event
Here's the thing: about 80 percent of your time in Mouse is spent shooting things. By the time credits roll, you'll have put down over 1,000 mice, shrews, robots, alligators, and dogs. For players expecting a light action-adventure carried by its art direction, that might be a surprise. For FPS fans, it's exactly what you want to hear.
The gunplay is tight and demanding. Enemies hit hard, capable of shredding large chunks of health in just a few shots, so the dash, double jump, and grapple abilities aren't optional extras. Jack can carry up to 9 pieces of cheddar for mid-combat healing, which keeps the pacing aggressive without making it punishing, provided you keep moving.
The standout weapon is the Tommy Gun, called the James Gun in-game. Zwiezen called it one of his favorite video game guns of the year. It sounds powerful, tears through enemies, and gets stronger as you find hidden blueprints scattered through levels. The shotgun, starting pistol, and acid launcher round out the best of the arsenal.
Some later-unlocked weapons don't match that quality, and a handful of late-game encounters spike in difficulty in ways that feel uneven rather than earned. Those are the two genuine criticisms in an otherwise strong package. You can check out more latest reviews on our site for context on how Mouse stacks up against other recent FPS releases.
Beyond the shooting: baseball cards and a hub world
Mouse isn't purely a corridor shooter. Between missions, Jack returns to a hub area to talk to characters and advance the investigation. There's a collectible baseball card game built into the loop, with cards found and purchased across the campaign. An animated overworld map, simple but charming, connects the levels together. These elements add texture without overcomplicating things. Mouse knows what it is: an FPS first, with personality layered on top.
The verdict on Fumi Games' debut
A few uneven late-game difficulty spikes and some guns that never quite click are the only real marks against Mouse: PI For Hire. The art is distinct without being gimmicky, the mystery is genuinely engaging, the level design gives you room to explore without losing you, and the shooting feels satisfying from the first firefight to the last. For anyone who follows the FPS genre closely, this one is worth your attention. Browse more gaming news and guides to stay across everything else landing this month.
