Mochi-O's hamster warfare is a sweet, swift sugar rush

It’s retired now, with a demo

As seen successful The Maw, fluffy defence shooter Mochi-O is retired today, and – judging from the Steam demo I’ve played – is an astatine slightest passingly entertaining MIRV detonation of gleeful nonsense. Landing determination betwixt operation defence, Vampire Survivors, and Tamagotchi, it has you holding up a genetically engineered hamster-like carnal up to a model and blasting waves of attackers with the mounted weapons systems hidden successful his fur. Then, mounting him down and giving him a bully agelong scritch.

Keeping Mochi-O (also the sanction of your adopted conflict rodent) happy, done the wide exertion of petting and treats, serves 2 purposes. One, it keeps the beast saccharine with your peculiar set of humans, his genocidal instincts being revealed done a mind-reading iPad. And two, it pre-emptively upgrades Mochi-O for the consequent mission, sustained scratches yielding XP and currency boosts. Which is much than my feline ever gives to me.

The shooty bits run connected akin "Sure, wherefore not" logic. Downed foes driblet delicious seeds that Mochi-O tin hoover up to unlock and amended his armaments, which escalate from 1 oregon 2 stick-out rifles to homing rocket launcher, flung saw blades, and an orbital laser, the mechanics of which are not discussed beyond noting that the hamster tin occurrence an orbital laser. And that’s conscionable the demo – who knows what different warfare crimes the afloat crippled has tucked distant successful the floof.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Kodansha

More truthful than a classical sprout 'em up, the pick-and-mix upgrade strategy and wide absorption connected waveclear telephone to caput a modern Survivorslike. Which is risky, arsenic firing from a region doesn’t let rather arsenic galore of those squeaky-bum, constrictive flight moments that the second genre trades in, often to thrilling effect. And yet, Mochi-O does look to person a bully grasp connected the simpler dopamine extraction techniques of a prime autoshooter. Heavy waves and upgraded arsenals harvester for immoderate amusingly exaggerated demolition scenes, and the casino ding-ding-ding of devouring a effect heap is arsenic satisfying arsenic immoderate SFX I’ve heard successful each nineteen days of 2026 truthful far.

Crucially, it besides hard-commits to its silliness, offering its daft favored combat with a assurance that’s lone attainable by enjoying a heavy consciousness of bid with itself. I respect that, successful people, and successful kawaii gerbil rocket defence simulators.