The feline slacker, Garfield, along with his eternal love of lasagna and existential hatred of the start of the work week, is no stranger to video games. Whether that’s games focusing on exploring his home for trinkets, taking on trivia and party challenges, or even having a go at kart-racing action, it seems like Garfield and friends have done it all. But where the upcoming Garfield: Escape from Monday tries something different is putting the slacker cat in a new action-platformer where he’ll have to navigate a dream world loaded to the brim with his favorite foods, along with some unsavory ones to deal with.
We recently got some extended hands-on time with developer OSome Studio’s upcoming Garfield platformer, which takes the titular house cat through some bizarre nightmares and foodscapes. Along with maneuvering through some hair-raising encounters and taking on some strange powers to combat rogue vegetables looking to put him down, we got to see just how Escape from Monday will stick out in the rotund housepet’s weird and vast catalog of video game adventures.
Veggies Cause Nightmares?
On a seemingly ordinary Monday, Garfield decides to drown his weekly malaise in lasagna that his owner, Jon, has prepared. Unfortunately, he realizes too late it’s a healthy vegetable-filled lasagna made from a recipe by TV host Chef Monday. After sinking into a food coma, Garfield awakens in a strange dream world rooted in his infinite love of food and television, but infested by food monsters and visions of an evil Chef Monday taunting the feline grouch – and escaping this nightmare hellscape is Garfield’s main objective in this game.
It’s a very wacky premise by Garfield standards, but the concept still plays well to the witty, deadpan humor that the comics and animated TV series did so well. Throughout his journey in dreamland, Garfield will have some backup from his friends, such as Jon and Arlene, but will also contend with nightmare versions of new and other familiar faces. As Garfield has to deal with more escalating encounters, he’ll deliver his signature deadpan commentary, which really leans into a self-aware take on a video game platformer. Garfield will even poke fun at familiar game cliches and even his spotty attempts at being a kart racer. One stage even sees Garfield try his hand at recreating the infamous Flappy Bird game, which also turned out to be a bit of a challenge to clear.
While Garfield has dabbled in platformers before, Escape from Monday is easily the most oddball and over-the-top of them all. Set across multiple worlds that mash up food styles and television genres, Garfield: Escape from Monday goes for a fairly familiar 3D platformer setup. Though Garfield is a slow and lazy couch potato in the real world, within this dream world, he’s much more of a spry video game character that can gracefully leap and dash across platforms and some set-piece encounters. It does lean into the collectathon style of a 3D platformer, which means you’ll need to grab as much food and hidden portions of lasagna in each stage to earn extra credit to make progress.
Cat Costumes FTW
Our hands-on time with Escape From Monday focused on stages where Garfield’s special dream power-ups are unlocked and ready to use. Much like classic Super Mario Bros, Garfield can grab special costumes that grant him abilities that are specially tuned for each world. In the farm world, garfield donned the Turkey suit, which gave some added airtime to reach further distances. In the mash-up candyland/beach world, Garfield gains a special surfer costume that lets him streak across water, ride up waterfalls, and grind the rails. And in the Wild West world overrun by vegetable monsters, Garfield can turn into a cowboy to use his lasso to tame wild foes and even grapple to higher surfaces.
The exploration of each stage is quick and snappy, which taps into the same energy as early 3D platformers like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. While combat is generally pretty light, focusing on Garfield’s kicking and jump attacks to get past foes, the real fun comes with how you can maneuver the prototypical grumpy cat across these stages. Playing as Garfield in this context offers some oddly endearing moments throughout his video game adventure. It’s fun to see Garfield and his lazy oafish demeanor trying to persevere through it all – and the game even lets you have Garfield play the slouch by slowly crawling through stages.
The stages where Garfield can cut loose with these powers are where Escape from Monday stands out, and they play into the dreamlike atmosphere as these weird levels gradually become more outlandish. One highlight was a stage set in the beach world, where Garfield had to dash through areas equal parts waterworld and candyland, grinding on rails while drifting through pirate dens and underground caverns. Every 3D platformer worth its salt has some form of water stage, and Escape from Monday is already looking to follow that tradition pretty well.
The Western stages were also a delight, allowing Garfield to tame some angry living eggplants and tear through obstacles on a controlled rampage. These stages also showcase the more cinematic moments in Escape from Monday, and the mine-cart platforming sequences play well with detail and sense of scale while also paying homage to Donkey Kong Country.
Just Another Manic Monday
The type of humor and vibes that come with a traditional Garfield story fit well with an action-platformer, and Escape from Monday really brings that special charm to a three-dimensional space. That said, it’s not exactly groundbreaking. There are familiar tropes and beats you’ve likely seen in many other games several times over. Moreover, Garfield’s deadpan tone can get a bit grating after long stretches of high-energy platforming sections. Still, developer OSome Studio makes a valiant effort to add variety to these encounters.
One particular side activity that was a nice surprise were trips to the dream version of Garfield’s home. As you collect lasagna and other items scattered across stages, you’ll earn some extra rewards that unlock lost furniture that you can place back where it belongs. As you score high on each stage, additional items will unlock in the arbuckle residence, and you can turn it into more of a hangout spot in between missions that can be decorated at your leisure.
Effectively capturing the vibes of Garfield can be a real challenge to pull off well, but Garfield: Escape from Monday is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the lovable slacker’s library of interactive adventures. Much like the recent Bubsy 4D, Escape from Monday is pretty familiar when it comes to the structure and formula, but that’s seemingly by design, as recapturing the fun of 3D platformers from a simpler time is very much in style these days. Luckily, his new Garfield adventure backs up solid fundamentals with snappy platforming action and a cool hook that showcases the endearing sourpuss in a fun and exciting way. It might not reinvent the genre, but that’s okay, and as Garfield will tell you any day of the week, there’s nothing wrong with a little comfort food. As long as it’s not healthy vegetable lasagna on a Monday morning.
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