In mid-September, I did what any grown man would do to forget his problems—I purchased a video game about a goose.
It’s true, but it gets even more bizarre. This video game sells as Untitled Goose Game. But the game’s developer, an Australian company named House House, is quick to point out this isn’t the official name. It is merely a descriptor so you know this is an untitled game where the user controls a goose. Got it?
Yes, this is a thing, and a quite popular thing at that.
In Untitled Goose Game, you use a goose to wreak havoc on a peaceful British village. You steal a gardener’s hat. You chase a child into a phone box and steal his toy plane. You break a priceless vase. You pull a bar stool out from beneath an old man. There is a dedicated button for honking. It’s pure bliss.
At its essence, Untitled Goose Game is a series of puzzles. But it is much, much more—it’s charming and relaxing and possessing a frivolity so inescapable that you’ll soon find yourself shouting aloud, “I’m a goose! I’m a goose!” And you won’t even care when your wife gives you that “I may have to have you committed” glance. Because you’re a goose, dammit, and a goose doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.
So, yeah, the game—which can be purchased for PC and the Nintendo Switch—is delightful. It’s a tonic for all those geese—avian or otherwise—you might experience in real life.
