A different perspective on the classic heist simulator games in Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator.
Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator is a game that oozes a rich, funky, and chaotic energy and is essentially what happens when Fall Guys and Among Us have a violent money-obsessed lovechild where you play as hyper-intelligent animals that engage in questionable activities for their boss. The masterminds behind this strange and wonderful game are Pewter Games Studios, LoPoly Games, and published by Green Man Gaming. The result is a fun and funky multiplayer heist game for 1-4 players.
This is the second release from Pewter Games Studios. Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator seems to be the developer’s attempt to up the ante and is far more ambitious and much more chaotic than their first release, The Little Acre, which is a much more storybook-like narrative-driven game. That’s probably why they teamed up with LoPoly Games to help out with development. Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator is also Green Man Gaming’s first major release as the publisher seems to mainly be an online video game retailer and distributor, similar to Valve.
We play as one of four hyper-intelligent animals that have been discarded by our previous owner. Tony, our previous owner’s uncle and new boss, rescues us from the unceremonious flush of death with a stick of dynamite, where we arrive at Tony’s secret sewer hideout. Tony mutates us from a once feeble and unwanted animal into a stronger, faster, and smarter version of ourselves or, as he calls us, “ya’ filthy animals”, a title he shares himself. Tony is a bit of a wannabe mob boss nutcase, to put it politely, and sends us on various heist missions.
In Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator, it is highly recommended you play through the game’s tutorial, as the controls are very clunky and can be a little hard to grasp at first. You will have to ragdoll your character around to perform various tasks during your heist, such as picking up items or pushing buttons. This movement style is very reminiscent of games such as Octodad and Surgeon Simulator, and it is just as ridiculous as it is in those games. This type of gameplay is definitely not for the impatient, as it will take some time before you fully grasp the unusual character controls.
As mentioned before, in Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator you get to choose between four different animals. These abandoned companions all come with their own set of quirks and personalities. We have a Chicken, Gator, Monkey, and Moose. Not much really changes from character to character, with the only difference being their unique charging attack, which is based on their personalities. This does seem rather strange because what’s the point in choosing multiple characters if there isn’t anything different about them? This seems confusing until you remember that this game is multiplayer.
Yes, you can play Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator entirely solo, but you won’t be getting the full experience out of the game. Heists are far more challenging, as when you are playing alone, you won’t have other players around to distract guards and other NPCs or help carry heavy objects and move obstacles. You will have to do all these tasks entirely by yourself, which is easier said than done.
In addition to this, as you progress through the game’s various levels, they will slowly increase in difficulty, making an already challenging level even harder. The game becomes an entirely different experience when playing with more than one person, so if you truly want to see Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator shine, enlist some help, or in Tony’s case, blackmail a friend to join you on your heists.
During heists, you will encounter many obstacles, including your character themselves and their explosive flatulence. Dotted throughout levels are soda vending machines; these machines, when interacted with, will dispense different colored soda cans. Depending on the color of the can, you will temporarily gain a special ability.
Some are incredibly useful, such as blue cans providing you with invisibility – an incredibly useful skill that will make sneaking past guards an absolute breeze, while others… Not so much, as yellow cans will cause your character to get rocket-propelling farts, which cause your character to shoot across the map. While this is hilarious to watch, it also makes controlling them even more of a nightmare.
Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator has an art style that is incredibly similar to party games such as Fall Guys but has its own unique and distinct flair. The game seems to take inspiration from late 2000s vinyl figures, with the game’s vibrant and solid colors giving the characters an almost plastic feel.
This use of shape and color keeps them easily distinguishable from one another, especially amidst the chaos of gameplay, which, if you’ve noticed, is a recurring topic when mentioning Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator because that’s the best way to summarize the visual experience of the game. With explosions of color and sparks, there is certainly never a dull moment in Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator.
The game features a soundtrack that is both retro and funky and gives Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator a distinct 70’s vibe and feel that matches perfectly with the fun and wacky gameplay. That is to say that it can get a bit repetitive, especially if you’re struggling to play one level solo, as there are only so many funky fresh beats a person can handle while their moose farts themselves into oncoming traffic before they go mad and puts the game down altogether.
But if the soundtrack bothers you, you can just turn it down; however, that brings its own set of annoyances. As mentioned earlier, the game is incredibly chaotic and all this madness tends to drown out the soundtrack, but all the explosions and sound effects can get annoying as well, so it’s a bit of a pick-your-poison type situation.
With its groovy music and eye-catching art style, you would be mistaken for thinking that Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator is a great game for kids, especially if they’re fans of Fall Guys; oh but the game is far from that. Very early on in the game, the first level, Tony makes a rather offensive comment about the continent of Africa and the food supply issue.
This is one of many crude and rather offensive jokes and comments Tony will make and the more you play the more you will realize just how dark Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator’s humor gets. So, the game looks child-friendly, but it is as kid-friendly as Grand Theft Auto, except if GTA was a cute physics-based party game.
Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator is a fun game, but sadly it’s only fun when played with others. When the game is played solo, it comes across as clunky, annoying, and incredibly frustrating. The sound design is just as cool and as funky as its visuals which are packed with explosions of bright orange and fart green. The humor is incredibly dry, however, so keep that in mind before playing.
