Mouse: PI for Hire review

Our Verdict A slick, accomplished shooter that’s more than just an eye-grabbing art style.

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I’m surprised to tell you that Mouse: PI For Hire is the best shooter I’ve played in ages.Not because I’m especially down on rubberhose animation, or rodents, or monochrome Unity engine environments, but because I hugely underestimated how well those disparate elements could be combined.

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This is a luxurious, maximalist game that commits equally hard to making you feel like a detective solving a case as it does making you feel like a gun-toting hero.

It doesn’t depend on those striking visuals to hold your attention, but holds it instead with good old-fashioned craftsmanship.

And Troy Baker’s voice.Need to knowWhat is it? A hardboiled noir shooter with a twist in its tailRelease date: April 16, 2026Expect to pay: $30/£25Developer: Fumi GamesPublisher: PlaySide StudiosReviewed on: i7 9700K, RTX 2080 TI, 16GB RAMSteam Deck: TBALink: SteamIt’s pre-war America, or a version of it where rodents have supplanted humans.

Society’s recovering from the Great War, and down in Mouseburg, political tensions are pulled tight as a snare drum.

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Xenophobic sentiment about shrews is on the rise.

Gangsters masquerading as police officers are roaming the streets, and starlets are mysteriously disappearing in Tinsel Ave.

It’s down to the eponymous PI Jack Pepper (Baker) to get to the bottom of it all, using a novel combination of hardboiled detective work and fantastically violent gunfights.Article continues below Aficionados of detective noir featuring social commentary via anthropomorphised animals will note that this isn’t the first game with such a premise, with Tails Noir (previously known as Backbone) having trodden the same ground in 2021 ## Editor's Note The gaming community will surely have mixed reactions to this news. Source: [PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/mouse-pi-for-hire-review/)