We've Only Seen 10% of the Story Built for Mouse: P.I., and I Have No Doubt the Other 90% Will Be Even Better

One of our games of the year - and probably one of our games of 2028 as well.

Every opportunity to tell you about Mouse: P.I. For Hire, the black-and-white indie game that is without a doubt one of our games of the year, is a blessing. But this time is truly special, because at Gamescom we had a full half-hour interview with the creators. I won't lie - the connection I had with them was incredible, and in the end we stayed for 40 minutes just talking about nonsense, but I can still summarize everything into a few headlines worth hearing.

Despite emphasizing clearly that they don't intend to say a word about the DLC planned for next year and the sequel planned for 2028, they did tell me something important. When they first built the game, around 4 years ago, they decided first to nail the style, and then focus on the story that came from choosing the black-and-white aesthetic that characterizes World War II content. But from there they only expanded the story, and from what they told me - only 10% of the lore they built for the world is in the base game. So the announcement of both a sequel and an expansion isn't surprising at all, everything is already ready for them.

They did expand a lot on the creation process and precision of the game's unique style, and touched on things that even I, as a devoted fan, never thought about. They emphasized how hard it was to choose the weapons, that many of them didn't make it to the final version of the game and were scrapped entirely (like a sniper rifle that was even shown at a stage that was ultimately cut, and they decided it didn't suit Jack because the gameplay needs to be faster and more focused), and how hard it was to nail the style. I personally complimented them heavily on the level design full of references, and they pretty much promised that this direction continues. In fact, they showed me that on their inspiration board in the office they had over 6,000 references to things they think could work in the world - and I believe not all of them made it into this game, and some are saved for the next game.

One of the questions that came to me from the game was how they decided to include the colorful segment of the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz. Their answer was that the art team always had an idea to put in an Easter Egg like that, but after they saw that the movie studio level comes so late in the story, they decided it would be amazing to break the audience's expectations with this segment - because after so many hours in black-and-white, you lose hope that there will be anything in color.

Another way they broke expectations was in the asylum level, which ultimately turns into hell. They said that not only was it originally two levels, but also in terms of game design it's two completely different levels that they simply saved us the car ride between. And they emphasized that this place is not hell, so I assume we'll learn more soon.

Regarding the Polish sentence that appears in the secret developer room in the port level - it turns out the guy I spoke with is the voice there, and that he's calling 4 people in the office to come fix a problem with it. Because everyone is named Mateusz, he says each time "I meant the other Mateusz." The idea was born from a level designer who was given the challenge to build this level, and simply told them he wasn't willing for it not to have a developer room. Everyone went along with it, and that's not the only thing that happened like that.

In fact, to make it easier to see where you're aiming the weapon, the studio decided to design all the weapons in 3D, until a pacifist animator who took the job at the studio only on the condition that he wouldn't design weapons, took the reins and designed all the weapons in 2D in the perfect way we got in the end. All 25 developers who worked on the game participated in building something, small to large, that shaped the very special character of this creation - and from this interview I'm confident the passion won't go anywhere in the expansion and sequel either.

Thanks to Mateusz Lechowski and Mateusz Michalak (yes, they brought two of the Mateusz's from the studio) for their time.