- Publisher: PlaySide Studios
- Release Date: Apr 16, 2026
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Apr 27, 2026Initially, I wasn’t sure how well the mixture of influences and styles was working, but it’s a testament to the attention to detail and polish that’s gone into the whole production that Mouse: P.I. for Hire achieves such a high score. The story takes a bit of time to become truly gripping, but it does so at the exact same time as the combat and style reach new levels of quality, and I couldn’t help but be impressed. While I can’t say I am stunned or in awe of the clue-collecting, I very much enjoyed my playthrough. Mouse: PI for Hire feels fresh and fun, and I only have praise for the whole team who produced it. This animated noir mystery is a great achievement. It takes risks, it’s challenging, it strives to be bold - and it works.
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May 6, 2026MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has a striking personality that grabs the player right from the beginning thanks to its art style, looks and quality writing when it comes to creating a noir world, and performs equally strongly when it comes to the game's FPS action. Even if its detective component falls below the rest of the experience, this is a very solid and captivating game that fits perfectly on the Nintendo Switch 2 catalogue, further aided by its mouse controls.
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Apr 30, 2026Mouse: P.I. for Hire contains an excellent 6 to 8-hour game that's trapped in the body of a good 10 to 15-hour game. Despite its memorable, eye-catching art style, the lack of color ends up being another factor that makes the length less sustainable. Fortunately, excellent performances from the voice cast and compelling writing give Mouseburg a charming character all its own. Solid first-person shooter gameplay and unique bosses make it easy to recommend for fans of the genre, especially those who don't mind the extended experience. Switch 2 players may particularly enjoy mouse mode, a fitting way to play, but there is some stuttering in Performance mode, which aims at 60 fps. If you love a good trenchcoat-clad, heat-packing hero with a wit as sharp as his cheese, go ahead and hire this mouse to take a sharp-toothed bite out of crime.
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May 12, 2026Mouse: P.I. For Hire should’ve been shorter, but I still really enjoyed my time with it. The Nintendo Switch 2 port definitely needs more time in the oven because of the performance issues and delayed updates compared to other platforms. I will revisit the game once it gets patched on Switch 2 to address some of the performance issues and potentially add gyro controls.
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May 6, 2026Mouse P.I. for Hire hits a lot of the right notes with its fast first-person gameplay and brilliant rubberhose-style animation. But on Nintendo Switch 2, the constant frame drops and other technical hiccups hold it back from greatness.
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May 14, 2026Because the developers were so inept at resolving this tension, I lost interest in Mouse: P.I. For Hire within the first level, and each subsequent stage found me disliking it more and more. It’s a competently and even entertainingly made game, but a dismally cynical work of art, and it never manages to shake the impression that the only reason that it looks the way it does is that the marketing team thought that it would be a good way to “stand out” and shift units.