Rat’s Lair Review (PC)

It feels as if I’m tiptoeing through Mr. Peterson’s backyard all over again — aimlessly rummaging around for color-coded doodads in search of that ever-elusive basement door. It all feels vaguely familiar, with the only difference being the stalking fiend—a rat, of all things. Aside from that, everything else reminds me of Hello Neighbor, right down to the bite-sized open-world suburban neighborhood and the procedurally generated puzzles and tediously adaptive AI. Oh, I can see the resemblance here, alright. The question is, does the so-called Rat’s Lair do anything differently, or does it borrow its assets from the increasingly popular cult franchise to establish a somewhat shameless emulation? Eh, a bit of both, I guess.

To put you in the picture, Rat’s Lair is a first-person horror-puzzler—a short but oddly immersive game in which you, the unfortunate soul who possesses little more than a flashlight and a whole lot of courage, must embark on a seemingly noble quest to enter an old suburban district and into the underbelly of the titular antagonist’s lair. Along the way, you have to interact with various objects and puzzles in a petite open-world setting, and gradually thread the needle to decipher the secrets that the aforementioned rat holds dear. The only drawback to all of this is that, should you fail to evade the rat, it begins to adapt to your strategies, after which it uses your own tactics against you to thwart your progress. Again, like Mr. Peterson in Hello Neighbor. But we won’t mention that again out of respect for the developer. *eyes widen*

Curious to learn more about Rat’s Lair and its cheese-clotted quarters? Then stick with us a while longer as we delve a little deeper into the details.

This Isn’t Wensleydale, Kids

Rat’s Lair is often described as a cocktail comprising a multitude of different genres, with a glimmer of horror, sandbox, stealth, and puzzle establishing its primary foundation. However, what this game is, really, is a cartoon-like adventure that “borrows” a significant portion of its gameplay mechanics and thematic aspects from—you guessed it—Hello Neighbor. From the moment you enter its suburban quarters, the similarities become apparent, and the overarching goal bleeds into a case of deja vu. That isn’t a bad thing, though it does take the element of surprise from the experience, naturally.

It goes a bit like this: you, armed with a flashlight, a crowbar, or some other useful tool, enter the dwelling of a mysterious rat—a cloaked foe who, true to the power of intellectual AI, has the power to adapt to your patterns, establish traps to prevent you from carving deeper into its territory, and respond to the faintest of actions, be it a pitter patter of tiny feet or a subtle creak in the floorboards. Your objective, in short, is to peel back the veil from the underbelly of its dainty lair, and utilize whatever tools you have in your arsenal to solve logical puzzles and develop creative solutions for outmaneuvering frequent curveballs.

Caught in a Trap

I suppose I’m thankful, in ways, that Rat’s Lair isn’t a linear experience. Thanks to the adaptive AI and the countless avenues for overcoming obstacles, each slip into the suburban world is, in all fairness, unique and oddly exciting to sift through. Does it always make sense, and are the puzzles as equally orthodox as your common puzzler? No, not really. That said, Rat’s Lair does a surprisingly decent job of making it so that, even when you’re actively failing and falling behind on whatever it is that you’re doing, the enjoyment of the hide-and-seek experience is still alive and kicking. Is it a frustrating ordeal? Sometimes. But then, so is slipping between the cracks of Mr. Peterson’s fingers — so, you know.

While I wouldn’t describe Rat’s Lair as a natural-born horror game, I can say that it does, with all due respect, establish a lot of suspense in its world-building process. Of course, the physical act of fleeing from the scene after being caught with your hand in the cookie jar is always an exhilarating experience, and Rat’s Lair does manages to deliver that sensation remarkably well, all things considered. Visually, it isn’t scary, nor is the antagonist in question. Yet, the basic formula of a cat-and-mouse (or rat) chase meshed with a boatload of nail-biting puzzles is often deemed as an ideal pairing. And, you know, it works here just as well, warts and all.

Verdict

Given the blatant similarities between Rat’s Lair and Hello Neighbor, it feels almost too easy to recommend the former to anyone who enjoyed the latter. And whilst neither of the two are perfect, much less capable of surpassing the benchmark of any of their chosen genres, be it stealth or sandbox, horror or puzzle, the fact is, both are as equally entertaining. Rat’s Lair, although something of a diluted version of Hello Neighbor, does truly excavate some interesting features, too, with a good selection of puzzles and a pretty intuitive AI system to help flesh out its overall composition. Does it always work? No. But with a genuinely tense atmosphere and a good amount of nervous encounters to keep you locked in, it’s also somewhat possible to bypass the shortcomings, regardless of their size.

Suffice it to say that, if you did enjoy the nervous act of aimlessly tiptoeing through Mr. Peterson’s tediously designed home (that’s the last time we will bring the golf pants-wearing neighbor to the table, promise) then it’s only natural that you will find just as much of that same energy in Rat’s Lair. Granted, it isn’t quite as mechanically or as visually advanced as its forefather, but given the incredibly low asking price of $2.49, it is a pretty small burden to bear—an iron cross that doesn’t necessarily dampen the overarching journey. And so, if you are looking for a new way to scratch that itch of yours, then you should be able to find enough here to remediate the problem, if only for a short while.