RATSHAKER™

wish i could shake some mice frens of mine like that~

Made me feel unsafe in my own home

so funny

Note: I completed the game on another account and will be playing this one again for academic purposes. I watched a let's play of this game and could not believe how funny it was within the first minute. Lo and behold, my friends and I were crying actual tears cracking up before we went into the house where things get... complicated. We were pleasantly surprised to be playing a genuinely upsetting (complimentary) and compelling game that feels like it's ACTUALLY doing what a lot of other horror games try to do when taking inspo from P.T./Silent Hill 2. All while shaking and choking a rat in a hilariously animated/voice-acted fasion.

This game made me feel something. I never new that shaking a rat makes me feel this much emotion

The game is visually and narratively compelling, but the gameplay of shaking the rat sucks. It's very fatiguing on the hand and arm, and there's no accessibility or QoL features to mitigate this issue. This is compounded by the fact that there are many ways to die by exploring and trying to further engage with the narrative, making you restart sections with prolonged shaking. I found myself just pushing through it and trying to avoid any optional content just so I wouldn't have to tire my wrist out anymore, which is a shame because visually the game is striking. I also didn't find myself being very scared a lot. I'm a very jumpy and easy to startle person, but there were multiple jumpscares I was fully lined up for and felt nothing; either there's a real lack of suspense with them or I was just so disconnected and frustrated that they couldn't land. Also, maybe an IGN moment but I did not understand that you had to shake to build charge, then squeeze to use charge to interact with things. Maybe if the opening didn't clear your ratshaker bar when you didn't squeeze it would've been clearer.

I must shake my RAT to find MY WIFE!

Good rat shaking time.