Bad Cheese Review

Bad Cheese is a new indie title that at first glance roped me in with its art style, but then hooked me in with its dark and gritty atmosphere. Your mother has gone away for the weekend, leaving you alone with your father. You play as a young mouse, and the early messages from your mother are to keep daddy happy. Sounds innocent on paper, but you quickly realise that everything isn’t as it seems, and it all becomes way too creepy.

Do Your Chores!

You’re made to clean, tidy and fix things up within the family home, which sounds a bit boring, but you soon realise surreal moments start to happen. The house starts to transform into dream-like experiences where you’ll have bizarre encounters with moths, giant spiders and other critters. I don’t want to dive too deeply into the story since the game is short, and this is what drove me to keep playing. But it does bring emotions of neglect, broken relationships with your father and issues within the family home. I loved that it consistently makes you think about every engagement with the adventure.

The game is played from a first-person perspective, and gameplay is simplistic, often with single-button presses to interact with objects. There are tasks and puzzles to solve with collectables along the way, which go towards some of the achievements, so keep your eyes peeled. There isn’t a massive amount of combat, but you do use certain household items to fend off spiders and moths throughout. One thing is for sure, though: the game is unpredictable, and it just makes you see it through to the end with rooms constantly changing.

Visuals & Audio

Bad Cheese is a salute to the early days of cartoons, totally done in black and white. I thought the lack of colour may have been an issue, but it actually adds to the tone and atmosphere of the game. There is also a film grain over the game with flickering, which makes it feel authentic and old-fashioned. Character and enemy design are well done, and whilst some are quite scary, they are funny at the same time.

The soundtrack fits that early 1900s era with a mixture of jazz and ragtime music. During the calmer moments of the game, the music is upbeat and matches the relaxed nature, but once any intensity starts, the music starts to becomes unsettling. Sound effects are very notable throughout with creaking floorboards, random bangs and the ambient noise surrounding the environments. Everything with the audio design is very cleverly done.

Final Thoughts 

Bad Cheese is a truly unique experience that has a fantastic art style that is clearly inspired by the early days of cartoons. I’d liken it to a mash-up between Steamboat Willie and Cuphead. The storyline is what kept me playing through this, with some emotionally heavy narrative and unsettling gameplay that has you on edge. Whilst the game is super short at around 4-5 hours to finish, it is quality rather than quantity. Whilst I was left wanting more, I felt satisfied with its runtime, but the replay value is limited since there aren’t any alternative paths or endings that I am aware of. For the reasonable price of £10.74, it’s worth buying.