When I covered Squirrel Stapler in its original form, I noted that the updated version at least seemed like it was taking steps in the right direction, working on deepening what was already there as opposed to expanding the (already rather long) length of the original. What I didn’t quite realize was that that was a joke: the “expanded mechanics” talked about are random stalls plonked around the forest that at best, only superficially add to the game, poking fun at how some game rereleases tend to add things that futz with the original game to justify their own existence — kind of like The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe in that regard. What the rerelease does do, however, is make the game feel much more friendly to play: the forest is a lot more populated so you don’t have to scour the landscape for several minutes just trying to find (and then go through the whole process of sneaking up on) a single squirrel, and there seem to be fewer enemies, keeping death as a setback but also making it much less frequent as it sometimes got in the original. It doesn't quite fix what I felt to be the biggest problem with the original version: days 3-5 still feel like the same loop three times without much added in between. At the very least, though, the quality of life changes make it much easier to deal with, and helps the game lean in on its strengths: the way the narrative builds up, the way the game simplifies/parodies the mechanics of a hunting simulator while still managing to emulate the general feel, and how the game (like others from its creator) builds up this absolutely bizarre premise around the player yet makes it feel like the most normal thing in the world. They’re perhaps not the iterations I maybe wanted to see going in (and I do wish day 4, in particular, didn't feel like the game was repeating itself), but they are improvements, and as a whole I’d recommend this as the definitive Squirrel Stapler. I got to see God this time :).

Reviewed on Jan 03, 2024


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