Infestation 88, the Mickey Mouse horror game from Nightmare Forge Games, has been renamed following accusations the title was antisemitic.
14.12.2023 - 14:51 / rockpapershotgun.com / Mickey Mouse
Take the Fleischer-style cartoons behind Cuphead’s stunning visuals, slam them together with a classic first-person shooter in the vein of Doom and you’d likely end up with something that looks like Mouse, an upcoming FPS with a hell of a stylish look.
Indie developers Fumi Games cite the “rubber hose” animation of the 1930s as inspiring Mouse’s incredible presentation, which sees the player running down anthropomorphic gangster mice armed with tommy guns with their own inventory of revolvers, machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles and what appears to be just their gloved hand making the motion of a gun.
There’s also brief glimpses of environmental dangers befitting the cartoon look - a precariously dangling piano gets dropped on enemies at one point - and the character scoffing down an entire wedge of cheese, a tin of something (Popeye spinach alternative, perhaps?) and a cup of tea.
The jazzy music fits right in with the vibe, with the gunplay offset by snippets of exploring a dark tunnel with flashlight in hand, speaking to characters and collecting trading cards - including mouse baseball star Brie Ruth. There look to be bosses, too, with a baddie in a Robotnik-style fixed turret having a dedicated health bar split into three segments.
Fumi say that enemies don’t just look like cartoons of the era but behave like them too; the gameplay trailer is perhaps more bloody than you might expect for a black-and-white game that looks like a Disney classic, with heads popping off in spurts of blood and barbecued enemies turning into charred matchsticks. It’s definitely more Itchy & Scratchy (or, at least, Steamboat Itchy) than Mickey Mouse.
The monochrome palette feeds into Mouse’s noir-fuelled story of a PI encountering gangs and mobsters while seeking out justice - and dispensing it plenty too, from the looks of things. Levels spotted include some kind of dock and the interior of a ship, plus what looks like a large warehouse.
In short, it looks wonderful - a whole lot of Cuphead and Doom, and even a dash of BioShock through various power-ups and the early 19th-century setting. Fumi say they’re still pinning down a release date, but hope to have Mouse out on Steam in 2025.
Infestation 88, the Mickey Mouse horror game from Nightmare Forge Games, has been renamed following accusations the title was antisemitic.
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Mickey Mouse has entered the public domain — or at least his original version has. The cartoon mouse first appeared in Steamboat Willie in 1928, which means it entered the public domain in 2024. And, as has become a tradition for beloved characters entering their copyright-free era, there are already dozens of weird knockoffs and parodies of Disney’s most famous mascot.
Less than a day after Steamboat Willie officially entered the public domain, several virtual adventures starring the world's most famous mouse have begun popping up online.
Steamboat Willie finally entered the public domain yesterday and, as you'd expect, a horror movie and game were immediately announced. Many were quick to call them out as "uninventive", labeling their creators as "hacks", but there's an adjacent game that's getting some extra love and attention now that all eyes are on the classic Mickey Mouse cartoon short.
Nightmare Forge Games announced its co-op horror game with a trailer that showcased its take on the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse.
Steamboat Willie is now in the public domain, so as has come to be expected, someone has made a horror game starring a grotesque villain inspired by the original Mickey Mouse.
With Steamboat Willie now in the public domain, people have free reign over the classic cartoon. To celebrate that, indie developer Nightmare Forge revealed their new co-op PC horror, Infestation 88, to IGN that stars the Disney mascot himself: Mickey Mouse.
Mickey Mouse is now playable in a video game! Which is to say, the public domain version of Mickey Mouse just got added to a game.
Mickey Mouse may be known as an expressly family-friendly figure, but an upcoming horror game is taking a significantly darker route with the character. Subverting children's media as horror experiences isn't a new idea at this point, with recent years seeing a major trend of grim re-imaginings. In many cases, these fresh takes can ultimately loop back around to feeling childish in their cheap ploys for attention, but Mickey Mouse is one case where there's actually some potential to make something interesting out of the material.
Some of the most iconic characters from children's tales have entered the public domain, and for fans of Lies of P - Neowiz's twisted and brilliant take on Pinocchio - that's a very exciting prospect.