Rocket P.I. Could Fill Cuphead Animated Void

In 2017, Cuphead achieved something arguably unprecedented in video games—or at least achieved it to a degree never seen before. It was built entirely from hand-drawn art and animation, emulating the style of a 1930s cartoon. Few have followed its lead, largely because such meticulous visual work is incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive. Now, a new hand-drawn and hand-animated project, Mouse: P.I. for Hire, is heading to our PCs and consoles. Beyond its entirely handcrafted visuals, it shares little with Cuphead. Mouse stands as its own equally stunning creation, and after watching a hands-off demo, I’m just as intrigued by it as I was when I first saw Cuphead—which is to say, extremely interested.

As you can clearly see, Mouse is presented in black and white. It channels the early animation aesthetic of the Steamboat Willy era, complete with wobbly, rubber-like guns that seem to jiggle on their own. (More on the firearms shortly.) It's also unmistakably a first-person shooter. You play as Jack Pepper, a hardboiled detective voiced by seasoned video game actor Troy Baker with a purposefully exaggerated New York accent—because, naturally, a 1920s gumshoe has to sound the part.

Mouse screenshots

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What stood out to me in the demo was that Mouse isn’t just a run-and-gun shooter—not that there’s anything wrong with that genre. Instead, the mission I previewed was set in an opera house, where Pepper needed to locate and interrogate a stage designer named Roland. We began at the back door, speaking with a waiter who hadn’t seen Roland—so we headed inside to investigate.

What I especially appreciated about Mouse from the demo was its departure from mindless run-and-gun FPS action.“

Inside the kitchen, the game’s visual style becomes even clearer. Characters are rendered as 2D sprites within a 3D space, reminiscent of the original Doom’s monster designs. Looking through the kitchen’s porthole window reveals one of Mouse’s detective mechanics—reconnaissance—as Jack snaps a photo and spots members of the notorious Big Mouse Party—individuals we’d rather avoid.

Moving through the kitchen, we encountered a smooth-talking waiter offering to sneak us upstairs—for $30. We declined the bribe and discovered a ventilation shaft as an alternative route. Finding some cash inside was a nice bonus, but the floor giving way and dropping us right back where we started was anything but.

On our second try, we navigated the same vent more carefully, avoiding the collapsed section and reaching a dressing room. Here we found a Thompson machine gun and ammunition. Naturally, we weren’t supposed to be there, and the Big Mouse Party members weren’t pleased. This encounter gave us our first glimpse of the FPS combat, complete with a beautifully animated reload sequence.

We overheard a muffled voice that could be Roland, but first we tackled a locked safe, triggering a lockpicking minigame. Inside we found… a cup of coffee? Then chaos erupted—a wall exploded and we neutralized the thug emerging from the smoke, before using TNT ourselves to blast a hole in the floor and descend deeper into the opera house.

Finally, we located Roland, beaten up by the extras—who, Jack deduced, weren’t extras at all. He uncovered the Big Mouse Party’s real scheme: to assassinate mayoral candidate Stilton, sitting in the balcony during the intermission, using a live cannon on stage aimed directly at him.

The demo continued with more combat, including a punchy-looking shotgun and another slick reload animation. Explosive barrels took out enemies in delightfully cartoonish flames, while an ice barrel—possibly liquid nitrogen—froze foes solid so they could be shattered with a kick, Terminator 2–style. We also saw the turpentine gun, which melts these paint-based cartoon characters, much like the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

The turpentine gun melts these cartoon characters who are literally made of paint—not unlike the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?“

After platforming past a new helicopter-tailed enemy type, we reached the upper floor—only to be dropped through a trapdoor back into the basement. There, we met the Old Rat Stuntman, who taught Jack how to double jump. Testing the move uncovered a hidden baseball card for “Brie” Ruth (a cheesy pun for our mouse heroes). We then returned to the stage to sabotage the cannon and save Stilton, triggering a boss fight with a furious opera performer. The turpentine gun took him down, showcasing yet another stylish reload that might just be the coolest one yet.

By now, fire had engulfed the opera house, and we had to fight our way out using every weapon available. No problem for Jack Pepper. Let’s take an uninterrupted look at the combat in action.

After escaping the burning building, we caught up with the stage designer. He coughed up intel about the vanished performer—something about a secret lab beneath his mansion? That doesn’t sound suspicious at all… And with that, the level—and the demo—concluded.

Although I haven’t played it hands-on yet, what I’ve seen of Mouse—and you’ve seen most of it here—makes me genuinely excited to try it. It appears to strike the right balance: lighthearted and comedic, self-aware, yet built around a solid FPS core. As breathtaking and admirable as the hand-drawn art and animation are, if the gameplay doesn’t deliver and maintain engagement throughout the campaign, its visual charm can only go so far. For now, though, I'm very optimistic.