We have been absolutely spoiled this year in terms of absolutely wonderful games! Sure there have been a few duds, but this year we have had gems such as Hogwarts Legacy, Baldur’s Gate 3, Hi-Fi Rush, Dredge, and plenty of others. Now, there is another great game to add to our gaming libraries: Party Animals.

Developed by Recreate Games and Published by Source Technology, Party Animals is a cute take on the Gang Beasts game formula that allows you to take control of a menagerie of animals in order to fight for the top spot in a variety of maps and game modes. This game has been on a lot of people’s radars since it was first announced in September of 2019, especially since this Recreate Games’ first release. 

The biggest part of Party Animals that you have to decide from the beginning is how you want to play on PC. You can play with either a keyboard & mouse or use a controller, depending on what your overall preference is. The reason why I say that this is your biggest decision is because the game has a slight learning curve in a few aspects. As such, having to relearn the controls on a whole new scheme can prove quite challenging.

I started off with a controller, but there was one match where it died and I had to quickly switch to mouse & keyboard. While my teammates were still able to pick up some of the slack, I was thrown off by just how different the controls felt. Some of my friends who played with a mouse & keyboard also noted that they had quite a bit of difficulty working the camera. This happens to be a problem that my friends using a controller never complained about. 

Two huge complaints that I have seen swirling around Party Animals are the microtransactions and the lack of offline mode. The microtransactions are all purely cosmetic and not all of the cosmetics require you to spend money. While you can earn the currency for purchase through playing the game, there has so far been only one skin pack that required a cash payment.

I found that a bit scummy, especially considering that the game costs $20. I could understand it if the game was free. However, it is ludicrous for a studio to be charging a base price for the game and then putting certain cosmetics behind additional money purchases in 2023.

Everyone should know by now that such tactics do not fly well with the vocal part of the internet. On the complaint of a lack of offline mode, I can understand why some people would want it if they have a poor internet connection. The problem with that from my point of view is that there are currently no physical versions of the game.

Obviously, you’ll have to download it from whatever store you might be purchasing it from. I agree that this would be a great game to play at a party, so it would be nice not to be subservient to a server to enjoy Party Animals. I personally do not know why the developers didn’t include this, but I could easily see this being worked on in the background. We will just have to wait and see.

While many people (including myself) make comparisons to Gang Beasts, I believe that Party Animals has updated and improved on the Gang Beasts formula. While the hit detection is just as shoddy as Gang Beasts, the number of game modes and weapons that the game provides can definitely even the odds and allow for more flavor to keep players engaged. The use of animals as avatars for the players also helps to keep people separated into whatever teams they may be on rather than the color method that Gang Beasts used.

In public matches, the games consist of modes that consist of either four teams of two or two teams of four. The fact that free-for-all is only available in customs seems to be a missed opportunity on the developer’s part. The fact that it can still be played on the side is still very nice. 

The cosmetics in Party Animals are all very good, but there does seem to be favoritism towards certain animals. For example, Nemo the Corgi has a plethora of cosmetics ranging from a cowboy to Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. My main animal, Yurusa the Bat, only has three cosmetics. This is an absolutely bonkers level of difference between animals that turns Nemo the Corgi into the Party Animal equivalent of Feng Min from Dead by Daylight in terms of cosmetic love.

The developers have stated that they are planning to add more skins and are asking the community who their favorites are. However, it requires you to make an account with their website which I definitely don’t want to do. There is no reason for them to have my email and absolutely no reason beyond this poll for me to have an account with them.

Hopefully, over time, more love will come to some of the other animals. Sadly, that is something that we will have to wait for. If you would like to read about more fun multiplayer games, consider checking out Mike Reitemeier’s review of Bang-On Balls: Chronicles right here.

A PC Review Copy of Party Animals was provided by Recreate Games for this review.

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Party Animals

19.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Great Gameplay
• Cute Characters
• Solid Multiplayer Experience
• Simple to Learn, Difficult to Master Mechanics
• Great Range of Maps and Modes

Cons

• Requires Friends for Maximum Enjoyment
• Some Paywalled Cosmetics