“Chicken Run Eggstraction” is the next great escape by Aardman’s flock of fowls. I flew the coop on Nintendo Switch 2 and found the journey to freedom to be chaotic and charming, not always reaching the heights I was hoping, but it’s great family fun all the same.

Based around the long-running “Chicken Run” movies and as a continuation set three months after the events of the game, “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” again follows our feathered friends as they once again set off to free their kind from captivity and the very real possibility of becoming dinner..

The incredible Aardman stop-motion claymation style returns in cutscenes, and original voice actors return to reprise their roles, helping Chicken Run Eggstraction feel authentic to the series. It’s a tale we’ve seen before from Chicken Run, but done in a way that is a great introductory point into extraction-style puzzle games.

Choosing Hero Chickens for the mission is crucial to success – between characters like the bird-genius Mac, military-minded rooster, Fowler, enthusiastic hen, Frizzle and more, various abilities can be used to get the upper hand.

Before heading out, I’d choose a Hero Chicken to head the mission, which brings in their own Leadership power that affects the whole squad and their own chicken skill, which may assist with stealth, defence and offence, like charging into enemies or disguising the group as a totally-not-suspicious shrub making its way through factories, warehouses and more.

 The ultimate goal is to free the captive chickens from humans. From an isometric view, strategising is quite simplistic, where keycards can be found, levers pulled to operate mechanisms and avoiding humans and surveillance tech that scours the area.

The goal is to release the chickens from captivity and corral them to the exit. It’s a balancing act of using chicken skills, items and planning – levels are pretty short, so restarting a mission doesn’t feel like a massive loss.

At the end of each stage, you’ll get a rating out of three stars, which are usually pretty simple, such as escaping undetected or collecting items. Still, it’s worthwhile doing them to unlock stars for upgrades to skills, or corn and cogs, which both act as types of currency in the pop-up shop. The gameplay loop can get repetitive at times, but there’s enough variety in approaches to each scenario to keep it interesting, and with levels being short, they never overstay their welcome.

Aardman’s iconic art style is captured in game form quite well, especially in cutscenes, but in-game, it does feel slightly off. On the Nintendo Switch 2 version, some frames dropped and made the animations feel jarring. With the overhead view, it takes some time to adjust as the chickens look pretty small, which is particularly noticeable when playing handheld, and they feel a little rough around the edges, which may ruffle some feathers.

When playing docked on a bigger screen, it’s much easier to see them, but the details on the characters aren’t as crisp as I’d like. In contrast, environments look great, with a variety of layouts and changes in obstacles; there’s enough detail to see it all and plan accordingly.

The overhead view mixed with environmental sound effects really helped to get a feel for the layout and how to manage timing, and the music provided just enough oomph for gameplay without feeling overly intense.

The game can be played in “Story Mode” for a much more casual experience or Normal mode, which presents a smidge more challenge with enemy detection and requirements: accessibility mods and the options to enable modifiers like invincibility or streamlined mechanics for players to customise their experience even more. 

The game is challenging and feels more geared toward a younger audience, and I see this as a decent game to teach kids strategic planning. There’s a jump-out 1-2 player local co-op mode, which is a nice thought, but given how simplistic the gameplay is, it feels quite unnecessary in standard levels. The Co-Op Bonus levels make teamwork crucial, mainly when operating mechanisms requiring some coordination.

Controls are standard fare, with skills and equipment use being accessed with simple button presses, and movement and interaction are straightforward too, making it easy for kids to pick up on. Sometimes the in-game camera obstructed some view, but most times, it wasn’t too much of a hindrance. 

Chicken Run Eggstraction is a family-friendly casual game that fits nicely into an introduction to the extraction genre. It may not be for everyone, but the quirky, endearing chooks and light-hearted humour carry the long legacy of Aardman’s charming catalogue.

Written by: Yasmin Noble