GEESE vs CTHULHU

I have a soft spot for the kind of solo-dev game that shouldn't exist but insists on existing anyway, and GEESE vs CTHULHU is exactly that. Anatoliy Loginovskikh built the whole thing alone, from the art to the code to the soundtrack, and the result is one of those rare micro-experiences that leaves you grinning in a way a fifty-hour open world rarely manages. The premise reads like a fever dream scribbled on a napkin. A thousand years ago the Goose Brotherhood defeated Cthulhu, who promised to return and eat the sun. Now he's back, and your three-headed Super Drake is all that stands in his way. The game doesn't blink at how ridiculous this is. It leans hard into the silliness, and that tonal honesty is a big part of why the whole thing holds together. Each of the seven levels throws a different arcade genre at you: one moment you're dodging sea-life in an avoid-em-up on an island, the next you're in a mouse-controlled shoot-em-up blasting at Cthulhu in the sky, then briefly sidestepping into a 1-bit platform section. The control scheme is entirely mouse-driven and the transitions between styles are the game's best trick. Just when you think you know what you're playing, it quietly reshuffles. The art is the centerpiece. Anatoliy's character designs are loud and confident, the kind of bold, hand-drawn work where every enemy reads as a deliberate choice rather than a placeholder. The Mushroom Queen level and the jelly Ram both have a wild visual personality that the final boss, unfortunately, can't quite match. Completionists chasing the achievement list, which includes challenges like keeping all cars alive on a road-dodge stage or finding a hidden pixel heart, should expect somewhere around ninety minutes of total playtime. A casual run sits closer to an hour. That's not a flaw. The game knows exactly how long it wants to be. The music deserves a specific mention. It's simple in construction but it fits the game's energy with remarkable accuracy. There's a driving, slightly chaotic quality to the soundtrack that makes the boss encounters feel genuinely pumped-up rather than background-wallpaper. It's the kind of score that only works because everything else around it is equally committed to the bit. The Steam user base rates it positively, and the only critical review available lands at 80 out of 100, which feels accurate. Rough at the edges in places, generous at its core. Who is this for? Anyone who enjoys short, handcrafted arcade experiences and has ever wished a game would just commit to its absurd premise instead of hedging. Fans of Anatoliy's other work, like Mushroom Cats or Mister Burnhouse, will find this fits squarely into that universe of cheerful, slightly unhinged solo-dev art games. If you need a branching skill tree and a thirty-hour campaign, look elsewhere. If you want something that respects your time and makes you laugh at least twice, this is a genuinely good way to spend an evening.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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