After being given the chance to try out a short, 15-minute demo, the release of Grandma, No! is here. Developed by Wallride and published by Super Rare Originals, I now get to experience all it has to offer. There was very little I could report on for such a brief experience during the demo, which you can read about here, but like anyone suffering from dementia, I will explain it all again.

You are Grandma, and as if being a senior citizen wasn’t hard enough, your grandchild has been unceremoniously dumped his baby at your house. Leaving you burdened while they have a spicy weekend at a nudist beach, going about your already difficult life became a whole lot more challenging. Unlike Grandma, who should at least have a weekend left in her, the plot meets its end, buried to make room for the gameplay.

Beginning in the Foyer, which serves as a trophy room to review your progression, represented as a classic old person’s home. Dusty old photo frames cover every inch of wall space, with photos depicting the weird and wonderful characters you may discover during your babysitting duties. Strangely, it’s also here that you change your outfit, selecting from options discovered by completing various tasks. Either Grandma forgot she had a bedroom, or she used to frequent a certain beach in her younger years as well.

Babysitting duties occur in the living room, kitchen, and backyard, with each area offering two sets of tasks. One task moves the game towards the end, and the other unlocks additional surprises.

Grandma, No! is a physics-based game, set in a three-dimensional environment, and completing the tasks results in calamitous or amusing outcomes. If you’ve ever felt that Murphy’s Law had it in for you, Grandma has you beat. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and then some.

Unfortunately, between the demo and the released version of Grandma, No!, something has gone wrong with the directional targeting. Grandma, No! recommends that you play with a controller, and for good reason; however, targeting doesn’t work correctly. Objects tend to be thrown wildly all over the place, worse than Mr Magoo driving a car, but otherwise, controlling Grandma is easy and uncomplicated.

Some tasks are delivered as minigames, and these are fun, breaking up the three-dimensional gameplay in the three areas, but unfortunately, I encountered a persistent bug. During some of the minigames that took place in a three-dimensional space, I constantly fell through the floor. I was able to progress, as the game automatically advanced to completing the task, but it would have been more enjoyable to properly experience it.

The weird and wonderful characters you may meet along the way bring a high level of humour to Grandma, No!, adding to the absurdity of the situations. Initially, it provides a good laugh, but it soon becomes tiresome, leaving you feeling like you’ve wandered into an old folks’ home and everyone has Alzheimer’s disease. What started as genuine laughter soon turned into polite chuckles, and then into impatient eye-rolling, but perhaps it was intentional, given that the main character is an elderly grandmother.

Fortunately, the gameplay is short and doesn’t overstay its welcome. I completed the entire game to 100% in about two hours; anything longer would have made it more arduous than enjoyable.

Grandma, No! mostly uses cartoon-like graphics that vaguely represent digital play-dough. Bright colours and over-the-top animations add to the gleeful charm of absurdity, occasionally broken up with two-dimensional hand-drawn art during minigames and scenes. It might sound like it doesn’t work, but it fits the overall vibe perfectly.

The music is reminiscent of a 1950s sitcom, with other music styles thrown into the mix, but carefully selected to complement the overall theme. Characters are also voiced exceptionally well, but the sound effects are the true standout feature – they bring the calamity to life. Every sound for every situation feels on point, adding life to the game and selling the ridiculousness of any given situation.

Grandma, No! was enjoyable, and thankfully just long enough to escape without having your cheek flesh pulled from your jawline. It’s full of weird and wonderful characters, devastatingly hilarious situations, and fun minigames, and while jokes were hilarious at first, they started to feel like you were listening to someone suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. If Wallride can tighten the targeting and fix the bug where you fall through the floor, it would be all the better.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove