Disobedient Sheep

Disobedient Sheep is a couch-multiplayer party game with a heavy survival emphasis. That it, the survival of some super-cute balls of wool that cannot, without your help, avoid the many genuine and lifelike hazards that come with being a sheep in today's modern times. Ominously slow rolling boulders, falling anvils and anchors, bombs and of course the shepherd staple dynamite all await your precarious flock. You play as a sheepdog, of which there are several cuddly variants, darting around the map for a time period dying to bark and generally hustle your sheep out of the way of these deadly obstacles. Your sheep act realistically, and group together in small flocks, but occasionally freak out at their impending existential nightmare and scurry off, making this challenge much harder than it sounds. As time goes on more and more dangers are thrown your way, making the final few seconds quite chaotic. You can play the mode cooperatively with your friends, or in a versus mode, where your sheep are different colours, and your focus gets a little more murderous. There's also a king of the hill mode, where keeping a greater number of your own coloured sheep inside a central area gets you points, whilst your opponent tries to bark your colour away and add theirs. Sheepball has to try and force your sheep past your opponent into a waiting wagon, scoring goals for each you get out of the arena. These modes have power-ups for your dogs instead of the hazards, making it much more competitive and less random. It's hard to not like the relaxing country soundtrack, complete with a West-Country English shepherd shouting encouragement (and disappointment!). The art style is boxy but full of character, and the general design of the game is well thought through and greatly enjoyable. Sharing a controller, as encouraged by the opening screen, with family and friends, makes a fun challenge in itself. You won't go wrong picking up Disobedient Sheep for your family and friends: hours of quality entertainment (with Overcooked-style shouting at each other about various high-score-disrupting hazards) follow.

I had heard about this game a few months ago and was really excited for it to be released, but I'm somewhat disappointed. The game is really cute, but right now it plays more like a tech demo than a game. The herding mechanic is unique and fun, and lends itself to some Overcooked-style local coop, but it just isn't as catchy because there's no campaign mode or any feeling of progression. As a result, this sort of feels like Jackbox-style party arcade, but it doesn't have the same depth of content. I played it with a few friends and we went through the game and got bored after 20 minutes. I wish I could rate this neutral though because the game has promise, but as a non early access game it's just hard to recommend, even at $7. If there's more updates coming to add content, I think it would add a lot of value.

Pro tip: If you're playing co-op mode with your non-gamer partner and wishing they were a bit more skilled than they are, there's an option called "accessibility" where... you have a slider to control the speed of the sheep and falling objects! Actually made the game more fun for us to slow things down a little :) We had some laugh out loud moments, enjoyed playing and will play again another night.

Disobedient Sheep! is a wonderful couch co-op game, designed for quick bursts and a party-style atmosphere. The objective is always simple - herd your fluffy companions with familiar sheepdog strategy, but instead of traditional means of directing them or keeping them in specific places, you'll be doing well to just keep them alive in an hazardous environment that the Farmer's Union could never have signed off on! The main modes of Co-op and traditional versus require you to keep as many of your sheep alive as possible before the clock runs down to zero. Sounds simple right? Well, in this game the sheep pen will produce wacky Looney-tunes esque hazards such as volatile dynamite and oversized anvils falling from the sky which will reduce your poor livestock to a woolly paté in a matter of seconds. Your job as the plucky sheepdogs is to keep them away from this danger by herding or barking, and secondly if you're playing versus, to do the opposite to your opponent's sheep! You can also do this in an endless mode and just try and rack up the longest time possible, or other versus modes include a king of the hill system wherein the majority pastural player within the control zone will rack up the most points, and Sheepball!tm where it's simply a matter of herding the most Sheep into your opponent's pen or 'goal' before they do. There's enough variety in the modes to offer different challenges whilst still keeping the overall play style and strategy. The control scheme is of note too - when the game boots up it will prompt you to share one controller between two players. The game is simple enough with few buttons that this is achievable, but unlike other party co-op games where this may be an option, here the developer actively encourages you to play like this to aid the co-operative bind, much like a three legged race. This is something that will certainly divide opinion, as the freedom to not be physically pressed up against someone else is always desirable, and certainly during versus - competitive players might actually start to wrestle the controller out of an adversary's hand if tension is high and sportsmanship low enough! Currently with even numbers of players, the game has to be played like this (no options could be found to switch to traditional sole control) so perhaps this should be considered for post-release support. The game is full of charm, be it the colourful palette and woolly textures of the game, the unorthodox narrator and bouncy music, or simply the animation of a sheep being blown sky-high by an enormous stick of dynamite. It's perfectly suited to a laid back couch atmosphere. As mentioned in my opening sentence, the game can only survive in quick bursts. Surely this is how it was designed, rather than marathon progressive adventures, but you're often left thinking that unfortunately the game lacks content at the moment. You can have a lot of fun in one of the various modes, but have ticked all the boxes once you've played several rounds. Considering the game is endearing, you naturally want to see more from this universe - be it more hazards, more canine characters, maybe even more modes (although the current list is suitable). I think the main area that certainly requires more are the stages, or 'maps'. Currently it's just one grassy area for all of the different modes and if I recall correctly, the size of the area is consistent throughout all of these. A great string to Disobedient Sheep!'s bow would be to further up the absurdity of the premise and perhaps introduce the game to outlandish environments such as an uneven volcano surface, or perhaps on the moon? This way several different gameplay variables could be brought in which would add a lot to differentiate the dynamic of the game. Furthermore, customisability is an element that could be introduced. Settings could be present that allow a user to drastically increase or decrease the hazards for example, or adjust the playing space or even just the zoom level. Also why not more milestones to measure success with the game? Stats, leaderboards, challenges, and of course Steam achievements. With these additions, Disobedient Sheep! could become more than a cute diversion at a party and instead a regular weekend time sink for players looking for more. Despite what some may consider to be missing at the moment, Disobedient Sheep! is a worthy addition to your collection if you're a couch co-op enthusiast. It captures an integral dichotomy between co-op and versus which allow you to jump instantly between the two without learning any new mechanics or controls, which is perfect for all ages and perhaps environments that aren't conducive to detailed explanation. Dive in and keep that pesky flock safe, they won't do it themselves!

Great little party game, love the local multiplayer. Perfect for lock-down family fun. More game modes in the future would be cool.

[h1] [b]This game is sweet af[/b][/h1]

Disobedient Sheep is a great couch co-op game with easy to learn controls and hilarious frenetic game play. We really liked the option to have 2 players share a controller meaning 4 players can join in with only 2 controllers needed. This game is a perfect addition to our party game playlist.

This game is completely mad and great fun in local multiplayer, especially with my young kids - it's simple enough for them to enjoy and doesn't really matter if you play it well or not. It becomes complete mayhem with several dangerous items appearing or about to appear as you try to guide or bark the sheep away from danger! The different play modes are fun, the visuals are bright and appealing, the music suitably frenetic and some cheesy voice acting is a nice addition. Since the last update controller support has greatly improved, and having 3 or 4 players madly scrambling around trying to keep the sheep safe is a blast. I thoroughly recommend Disobedient Sheep to anyone who has a few people in the house who want to play a game together, especially if some of them are young children.

great lil multiplayer game and even great as a single player game, very pog

very bare bones. if you have controllers that aren't Xbox 360, they might not work.