PARTY ANIMALS

Last issue we looked at the current state of games being made in China, and questioned whether the country’s reputation for producing clones was really fair in 2021 – something further challenged by our cover game this month. Into this debate stumbles Party Animals, a game from Beijing-based Recreate Games which looks so much like a Gang Beasts reskin we had to triple-check its provenance.

Still, Recreate has improved on the formula in one way: the jelly-baby fighters have been replaced with corgis, bunnies and other cute animals. This has the side effect of making it even more darkly hilarious when one of them gets sucked into an aeroplane propeller or flops to the ground shuddering after being tasered. Which raises an important question: will you play as your favourite animal, or the one you most wish to see suffer?