{"id":71322,"date":"2019-10-02T03:09:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T10:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/honk-why-untitled-goose-game-has-become-one-of-the-most-unexpected-success-stories-in-gaming\/"},"modified":"2019-10-02T03:09:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T10:09:18","slug":"honk-why-untitled-goose-game-has-become-one-of-the-most-unexpected-success-stories-in-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/honk-why-untitled-goose-game-has-become-one-of-the-most-unexpected-success-stories-in-gaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Honk: Why \u2018Untitled Goose Game\u2019 has become one of the most unexpected success stories in gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a month that was riddled with big video game releases, the most unexpected success story of September turned out to be the indie game about being a very rude goose.<\/p>\n

Untitled Goose Game, <\/em>as of this writing, is the No. 1 digital game on the Nintendo eShop, beating out big-ticket titles including Nintendo\u2019s Link\u2019s Awakening <\/em>remake, the rerelease of the classic Jedi Outcast<\/em>, and the long-awaited Definitive Edition of the popular JRPG Dragon Quest XI.<\/em> (It\u2019s also available on the PC\/Mac, as an Epic Games Store exclusive<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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The Nintendo eShop Best Sellers list as of October 1st, 2019. (GeekWire screenshot)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s been an unusually killer summer for games, especially on the Switch, and September saw several other high-profile, hotly anticipated cross-platform releases, such as Borderlands 3, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, <\/em>and NBA 2K20<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Untitled Goose Game\u2019s <\/em>popularity would be remarkable even if it had come out in a quieter launch window, but against this kind of competition, the game\u2019s success is borderline miraculous.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s officially gone viral, with a lot of celebrity shout-outs<\/a> and social media buzz<\/a>, and as with every lead from every popular game on the Switch, somebody wants to see the Goose in Smash Brothers<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In Untitled Goose Game \u2014<\/em> developed in Melbourne, Australia, by the four-person studio House House<\/a>, and published by Panic<\/a>, based in Portland, Ore. \u2014 you\u2019re a goose who\u2019s out to torment the inhabitants of a quaint rural village. You have an entire button dedicated to angrily honking at things and people, and a to-do list that\u2019s entirely dedicated to causing mayhem. It\u2019s simple, clean, easy to understand, and 100 percent about being the biggest bird jerk possible to a bunch of villagers who, as far as I can tell, didn\u2019t do anything to deserve it. You\u2019re just an evil goose, because geese are evil.<\/p>\n

To pigeonhole the game\u2019s genre, and to make a completely unnecessary bird pun, Untitled Goose Game <\/em>is a sort of stealthy adventure set in an open world. You enter each part of the village with a list of goals, and when you accomplish them all, you move on to a new area. Once your reign of terror is over for the day, so is the game. It\u2019s a three-hour, $20 burst of sheer madness.<\/p>\n

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? What a wild week. Thank you all so much for playing and appreciating our goose, seriously. Not played it yet? It’s 25% off until the end of this week\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/cnBoNZ0IG1<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/o7opy0dee1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Panic (@panic) September 30, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

It is easy to see how the game\u2019s caught on, though. It might be one of the most casual-friendly releases I\u2019ve seen this year, even on the Switch. There are no time limits, failure states, or skill requirements to speak of; you launch directly into your new career as a goose tyrant within moments of starting the game, and are told everything you need to know right away.<\/p>\n

The more puzzle-oriented tasks on your to-do list are mostly solved through common sense and a bit of sneaking around \u2014 obviously people will take their things back from you if they see you with them, so you need to distract them in order to steal their stuff \u2014 and the solutions are open-ended enough that whatever you think of doing will probably work.<\/p>\n

Untitled Goose Game <\/em>is also notably non-violent. No matter what you do to the villagers, you can\u2019t really hurt them and none of them are going to fetch a rifle to deal with you. You are simply allowed to be a mean bird for as long as you like without consequences, in a small open world with a light, jazzy soundtrack that you can explore at your leisure.<\/p>\n

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Untitled Goose Game <\/em>is\u00a0the second title for both House House and Panic, following House House\u2019s Push Me Pull You <\/em>and Panic\u2019s co-publishing of Campo Santo\u2019s Firewatch<\/em>. The game ended up launching under its placeholder title, as according to the developers<\/a>, they didn\u2019t come up with anything they liked better before their announcement deadlines.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a month that was riddled with big video game releases, the most unexpected success story of September turned out to be the indie game about being a very rude goose. Untitled Goose Game, as of this writing, is the No. 1 digital game on the Nintendo eShop, beating out big-ticket titles including Nintendo\u2019s Link\u2019s… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":71323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games-media","category-gaming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t