Mouse: P.I. For Hire is bringing 1930s cartoon violence to consoles tomorrow

Fumi Games and PlaySide Studios are releasing their 1930s-style shooter Mouse: P.I. For Hire on April 16. PlayStation just published a cinematic trailer ahead of the PS5 launch, but the game is also coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch 2 on the same day.

The game leans heavily into its central gimmick. It combines the bouncy, high-contrast rubber-hose animation of early Walt Disney and Max Fleischer cartoons with the violence of a retro shooter. The protagonist, Jack Pepper, is a hardboiled detective navigating a corrupt city filled with mobsters, crooked cops, and a lot of guns.

A gritty coat of paint

The game operates entirely in black and white, complete with film grain and soft focus effects to mimic early cinema. Actor Troy Baker voices Jack Pepper and delivers a monologue full of standard noir tropes.

"Some falls don't begin in the sky. They begin in quiet rooms with friendly voices and fondue bottles," Pepper says in the trailer. "Mine started a few weeks back. The sky was just the exit wound."

He explains that a routine call from a reporter at the Mouseberg Herald led him into a case that was more trouble than it was worth. He then pulls out a Tommy gun in a dark alley to prove his point.

The contrast between the cheerful animation style and the mature themes is the main draw here. Enemies burst into coins or comically exaggerated death animations when shot. Fumi Games has essentially taken the visual DNA of Cuphead and applied it to a first-person shooter structure. Putting a Tommy gun in a cartoon mouse's hands is either genius or madness. Possibly both.

Digital and physical releases

The digital version will cost $29.99 across all platforms. The Xbox version includes Play Anywhere support, so buying it once gets you access on both Xbox Series X/S and PC.

A physical release is scheduled for July 10 for anyone who prefers to own their games on a disc or cartridge. The standard physical edition will run $29.99 on PS5 and $39.99 on Switch 2. The price bump on Nintendo's platform is likely due to cartridge manufacturing costs. Fumi Games confirmed that the Switch 2 physical edition will have the entire game on the cartridge, avoiding the dreaded download code in a box.

There is also a deluxe Mouseburg Edition coming in July for $49.99 ($59.99 on Switch 2). It includes a vinyl record soundtrack, a comic book, a poster, and a set of baseball trading cards based on an in-game minigame. It is a lot of paper goods for a modern physical release.

What to expect

Mouse: P.I. For Hire has been in development for several years, and the final product promises a mix of linear shooting and light investigative work. Players will upgrade their weapons at vending machines, collect clues on a corkboard back at the office, and shoot their way through various mob-controlled districts. The combat relies heavily on a mix of standard firearms and cartoon-logic gadgets. You can blast enemies with a shotgun, or you can drop a piano on them.

The game will not be available on older consoles like the PS4 or Xbox One at launch, though Fumi Games plans to port it later. Translating hand-drawn 2D animation frames into a 3D shooter environment is notoriously difficult, so keeping the initial launch restricted to newer hardware makes sense. We will see how well the illusion holds up when the game drops tomorrow.