Stuffed Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

Animated corpses are a thing of the past, but stuffed toys with deranged Sandman-like characteristics are suddenly all the rage. Or at least, that’s according to Stuffed, a horde-based shooter from Waving Bear Studio. Because let’s face it, zombies have had their time in the spotlight. The antagonists who’ve yet to flaunt their colors are those who hide beneath the bedsheets—the dream-hogging robots, the gnomes, and the shadow-like figures. Stuffed aims to shed a light on those who wallow in the dark during the eleventh hour. Well, it tries to, at least.

Stuffed sees you filling the padded paws of a stuffed bear who, in an effort to keep the nightmares from swarming the cozy dreams of their keeper, decides to wage a war of their own. With a vibrant procedurally generated world, a horde of mischievous beings of the make-believe variety, and a soda-powered weapon that has the power to inflict mass destruction, the idea is simple: wreak havoc on those who pose a threat to the restless victim, and battle through endless nights.

Instantly, Stuffed lumbers you with a problem. Unlike your average drawn-out extraction-survival shooter that makes an effort to fill your head with preliminary data and character-driven backstories, it opts to throw you directly into the fray. It doesn’t tell you why you’re a bear on a mission, and it doesn’t pad out its setting with flamboyant cinematic energy or dazzling effects. Instead, it drops you into a bedroom, and it tells you to start eliminating enemies in a wave-like fashion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go any deeper than that. There are no storylines to unravel, and there are no checkpoints to work through. It’s just you, a room full of animated monsters, and a bag of popcorn that just so happens to work as a grenade. But, more on that later.

Stuffed doesn’t stick around to flesh out the details with the usual jargon, nor does it spend dozens of hours trying to explain the situation. A sleepy vessel hangs in the corner of the room, and the only line of defense between them and the endless waves of foes is, well, you. In other words, what you have here is a rather generic, somewhat belt-and-braces wave-based horde shooter. Think Call of Duty Zombies, but add a little extra cuddliness to the equation, and you’ll have a vague idea of what it aims to achieve. It’s simple, to-the-point, and yet sadly lacking in polyester hearts.

There’s a problem here: Stuffed is primarily offline, meaning, it doesn’t allow you to form your own ragtag band of plush-riddled mercenaries and wage grand-scale battles with your friends. Well, to tell a lie, it does allow certain users to play online — just not those who happen to own a console. A small gripe, but one that sadly dampens the overall experience, given that Stuffed is, first and foremost, a game that works better in the company of like-minded plushies. As a solo player, however, it leave a lot to be desired, more so given that it doesn’t give you something to chase.

Given that there isn’t much of a plot for you to untangle here, Stuffed is an incredibly easy game to slip into and hack out as and when the mood strikes. The point of it, much like your bog-standard horde shooter, is to endure as many waves as possible, all whilst tackling various foes and occasional shadow-like boss fights with a wide host of seemingly ordinary weapons. A cola bottle, for example, provides quite the carbonated punch. Popcorn, too, can be used as a hard-hitting projectile. It’s all a little ridiculous, but it serves the setting well —  and that counts for a lot here.

If you’re already vaguely familiar with the horde shooter concept, then you should, with any luck, be well equipped to tackle the barricades in this procedurally generated world. Simply put, as you eradicate more waves of enemies, you unlock better weapons, and with them, additional foes to beat into submission. And, again, if you’re wondering whether or not there’s a point to any of this, there isn’t. Or at least, there isn’t anything particularly complex that requires your undivided attention. A child needs to sleep, and you need to keep the nightmares from knocking at the front door.

For what it’s worth, Stuffed does make for one of those typical guilty pleasures. Given that it doesn’t beat around the bush and happily puts you at the mercy of a short action-fueled bullet romper, it is surprisingly easy to jump in and out of it and just enjoy it for what it is. With there being no character arcs to keep tabs on or multi-layered plot points to decipher, it honestly doesn’t require a lot of energy to fall into it and roll with the punches. Though, this can feel like a blessing and a curse. It’s evidently fun in short bursts, but with a lack of depth, it can begin to lose its appeal after the first dozen or so sleepless nights.

On the bright side of all of this, Stuffed provides a clean and highly entertaining shoot ’em up experience with a lot of great quirks and comical features. With a host of bedroom mascots and a trove of peculiar weapons, it serves its purpose as a unique and mostly well-rounded horde battler. Does it do enough to keep you coming back for more? Eh, yes and no. A story would have been a brilliant add-on I’ll admit. But then, with annoyingly entertaining combat and plush-based battles to bury your head in, I’d say that its greatest weaknesses can afford to be excused here.

Verdict

Stuffed is a budget-friendly horde shooter that attempts to borrow the thunder from Call of Duty Zombies in an effort to bolster the notion of, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It might fall short in numerous areas (a lack of online multiplayer, being the nail in the coffin for console users, sadly), but to give credit where it’s due, it serves its purpose as an entertaining alternative for your average wave-based battler. To that end, I’d say that it fulfils its promise, if only just.

For the relatively low asking price, I’d say that you should be able to get your money’s worth out of Stuffed. It might lack the padded storyline and rich character development, but then, given that it flaunts a highly engaging combat system and enough cosmetics to keep you engrossed for the long haul, it does manage to fit the bill, if only just.