10 Great Indie Games Where You Play As An Animal

Video games give us the opportunity to experience things we'd never get to in reality. Like what it's like to be a bank robber. Or a ninja. Or a... ninja bank robber. I dunno. Stuff like that. It provides an opportunity to take a look at the human experience from different angles. Or in the case of today's list, experiences that aren't human. You know... animals. Cats and dogs and marmosets and emus and stuff.

When you look at the history of games, you'll notice there aren't as many games that put you in the shoes of an animal. Is that because animals don't typically wear shoes? Possibly. But, more than likely, it's because it's difficult to imagine how the world looks through the eyes of a creature so different from us. That's never stopped us from trying, and we've got ten indie games here to look at today that do just that.

10 Untitled Goose Game

Honk

Despite the fact that players take on the role of an avian menace in House House's 2019 indie hit Untitled Goose Game, it actually touches upon a rarely discussed human desire. Namely, being a complete jerkwad with almost zero consequences. Even if it's only for a fleetingly brief moment, we've all had a momentary craving to, well... let's just say to do something not so nice. Yes, we have all had that feeling and, yes, you should feel terrible, you monster.

Untitled Goose Game not only allows you to be that monster, it's the actual point of the game. Running around, causing mayhem, scaring small children and the elderly, all in the guise of a common goose — is it any wonder this won Game of the Year at D.I.C.E. in 2019? The studio even added a co-op mode, so you can terrorize small European hamlets with a buddy. Just don't let all that power go to your head. Lest we forget, geese are also delicious.

9 Stray

Meow

Stray certainly wasn't the first - nor, clearly, the last - game to simulate the experience of being a cat. As great a job as it does at that (and we'll get to that in a second), there's another element that makes this game stand out: the setting. Stray is also a quiet dystopian drama set in an area inspired by a very real place: Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City.

Yes, this "cat simulator" has everything you'd expect in a game with that description, including a dedicated "meow" button. From playing with toys to scratching at floor boards to curling up and taking a nap, few games really nail the feeling of being a cat as well as Stray. But, it also takes place in a tightly packed urban environment based on one of the most densely populated areas in the history of the planet. Add all of that up, and you have one a-meow-sing experience.

Look, you're going to get a lot of these puns during this list, so just buckle up and deal with it, OK?

8 Maneater

You Have That Hall & Oates Song Stuck in Your Head Now

Maneater is a game where you are a shark. If you hadn't heard of this game until now, I can tell you are already sold. There's more. You're not just any shark, but a very powerful shark that gets more powerful as it swims around and eats things, including - you guessed it - people. Not just men, as the title would lead you to believe. Don't worry, ladies. You're on the menu, too.

On its surface, Maneater is really a spoof of nature-based reality TV. At its core, though, it's an open-world survival RPG with a really twisted sense of humor. It even takes some cues from the old SNES RPG E.V.O.: Search For Eden, where the player literally evolves as it eats other creatures. Of course, if you just want to swim around and tear apart everything in sight, there's that option, too. Go wild. Even if it's only kind of a Metroidvania.

7 Octodad: Dadliest Catch

Your Dad Is, Like, so Weird

They say, out in the wild, that octopuses can blend into anything. Sand. Rocks. Coral. Garbage. But, there's one game out there that dares to ask the one thing we're all thinking. Can an octopus blend in... with suburbia?

The concept is as simple as it is ridiculous. You're an octopus that is attempting, for whatever reason, to pass itself off as a suburban human dad. Of course, human dads have four limbs while octopuses have *looks up octopus on Wikipedia* eight, so moving around inconspicuously will be less than ideal. But do that you shall, lest your cover be blown, and you're caught and turned into calamari.

Dadliest Catch is actually a sequel to a 2010 freeware game that was developed just for funsies by some university students. Those students formed a studio, Young Horses, in order to turn their fun little project into a commercial release. They would go on to create Bugsnax which, while a fun game, is not nearly as weird as Octodad despite the fact it's about animals made out of cheeseburgers and stuff.

6 Squirrel With a Gun

What Do You Mean "What Is This Game About?" Seriously?

In Squirrel With a Gun, you play as a squirrel. Who has a gun. This is not a metaphor. That's literally it.

Of course, this is also a squirrel who also knows how to fire a gun. And by gun, we don't mean a tiny, squirrel-sized gun. These are people-sized gun. Guns that are almost as big — if not bigger — than the titular squirrel itself. So big that when said tiny lagomorph fires said weapon, it goes flying backwards because, you know, physics.

We get it. Much like another entry on this list, Squirrel With a Gun feels like a joke gone too far. And it is. But, it's also really fun, even with its absurdity. In fact, it's a pretty major reason why it's fun.

Also, lagomorphs are rabbits, not squirrels. My bad.

5 Catlateral Damage Remeowstered

Make the Humans Pay!

Sure, cats look adorable and sweet, even at their most aloof and stoic. But, underneath that calm appearance, in each cat lies a burgeoning beast of blazing destruction. A demon that will knock everything off of a shelf just because it's there. A maniac that can shred a roll of toilet paper into confetti in seconds. A walking nightmare with four paws. And Catlateral Damage Remeowstered lets you see what that's like!

This first-person mayhem simulator released in 2015 is pretty straightforward. You have a set amount of time to rush around a house (or a store, a cabin, or a science lab to name a few other locations) and make as much of a mess as possible. This isn't just done by knocking things over, either. Just about anything you can imagine a cat doing, you can probably do.

In 2021, the Remeowstered edition was released, giving us more cats, more power-ups, and more things to destroy. Make those humans think twice before letting the bottom of your food bowl show!

4 Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

The Human Animal

When the first trailer for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey hit, hopes were high. It was the newest game from Assassin's Creed I - III creative director Patrice Désilets, and it looked like a doozy. Rather than a sci-fi fantasy taking us through history, Ancestors would be giving us a realistic look at our pre-history. And they weren't going to hold our hands (with opposable thumbs) while they did it.

It's that lack of hand-holding that really kept more players from discovering this gem. Part of the concept was discovering how early hominids survived and evolved in harsh environments just as they did. It's enjoyable, but it's also not exactly what you'd call intuitive. Still, once you get the hang of it, this primitive human simulator is extremely engaging and well worth your time.

3 Another Crab's Treasure

It's a Souls-Like but You Play as a Crab. You Know, That Old Chestnut

OK, a Dark Souls-style game where you play as a crab in an undersea tale of revenge sounds weird, sure. And it is! But it's also kind of wholesome and a lot of fun. You play as a, well, a crab, and you are on a quest to recover your home from a shady loan shark. Loan shark. Because it's in the ocean? Yeah? Huh? Get it? OK, moving on.

So, as a hermit crab without his shell (you know, the whole loan shark thing), Kril (I told you there were puns) has to make due with all sorts of other objects on the ocean floor. Like soda cans, coffee mugs, and more. Not only do these items provide him protection, but also different stats and abilities. Like an ArrrrrrrPG. Seriously, I'll stop now. I promise.

2 Spider: The Video Game

Much Better Than Bedbug: The Video Game

For most of our adventure today, we've looked at fairly modern games. Be they in-depth simulators or simply arcadey fun, they are all fairly recent titles. So, let's wind the clock back to a time when graphics were 3D even when they were 2D, and when game titles were oddly to the point. We're talking about Spider: The Video Game for the original PlayStation.

Technically, you don't play a real spider — well, yeah, it's a video game but also not a real spider in this game's world. Instead, you control a robotic spider inhabited by the mind of a scientist. And, why, yes, he was the same scientist who invented the process of putting human minds into tiny robot animals. Thank you for asking! Funny how that works out, isn't it?

Anyhoo, Dr. Spider Brain has to work his way through numerous platforming levels to get his mind back into his human body. Luckily, because he's a robot spider, he also has access to all sorts of non-spider weapons, like missiles and stuff. Admittedly, it's a weird concept but, let's be honest, we've seen weirder. And it's also a lot of fun, and worth checking out if you come across it.

1 Goat Simulator 3

And You Thought Geese Were Jerks

After starting with Untitled Goose Game, it's only fitting that we end with another animal mayhem simulator. This time, however, we're not stealing Farmer Werberharben's tools or knocking an ice cream cone out of a poor kid's hand (though both of those are fun.) This time, you're a frickin' goat and, as we all know, "goat" is German for "all business." Actually, it's probably not, don't look that up.

Much like the previous game (and, no, you're not having a stroke — they skipped right to 3), the entire point of Goat Simulator 3 is to just be the most destructive jerk ever. This time around, though, there's more than mindless fun. There's also some really clever parodies of the gaming world. The game's opening recreates the legendary beginning of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Just with, you know... goats.

Does it accurately recreate the experience of being a real goat? Of course, it doesn't. Don't be silly. But it does take all the fun from the first game and then does lots more of it. It's amazing.