Steamboat Willie-Style First-Person Shooter Has a Name: Mouse P.I. for Hire

An irreverent, very non-Disney Mickey Mouse video game, previously known only as Mouse, has been retitled Mouse P.I. for Hire, and now has a gameplay trailer that highlights its unique visuals and soundtrack. Its developers, Poland-based Fumi Games and Australian publisher PlaySide Studios Limited, plan to release the game in 2025.

It might not be a tough sell. With its jazz soundtrack and Steamboat Willie-style visuals, seen in the trailer posted by IGN earlier Friday, the game clearly vibes with the popular indie hit Cuphead. But while Cuphead was a side-scrolling platformer, Mouse P.I. for Hire appears to be a violent (cartoon violent, but still) first-person shooter with a variety of deadly weapons and a Popeye-inspired canned spinach power up.

The game is reminiscent of Mickey Mouse’s earliest incarnation, and that’s no accident. The copyright on the character from the Steamboat Willie short entered the public domain earlier this year. Irreverent, genre-shifted takes on iconic characters that age out of copyright are something of a meme; Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a violent horror movie featuring A. A. Milne’s bear of very little brain, was released last year.

The official game description promises a story about a private detective “navigating a noir city teeming with gangs, mobs, and characters from the dark side.” 

You can wishlist the game on Steam, where it still appears under its original title Mouse. So far, only a PC version has been announced, though it wouldn’t be surprising if the game showed up on game consoles next year.