Developed by Sweaty Chair and published by Playsaurus and UltraPlayers, Tingus Goose is the most intriguing game I have ever seen, and I had the privilege of interviewing Brian Zou, the CEO and Creative Director, at this year’s PAX Aus. Be sure to check it out on your preferred social platform when enjoying MKAU’s content.

To give Tingus Goose a plot is to simply say love. The whole idea is to make your ground goose reach the sky goose so they can fall in love and make more geese. As bizarre as that might sound, Tingus Goose will baffle you further, bringing exclamations of, “What the Honk!?” So, try and stay with me as I explain this eye-popping, jaw-japing, eyebrow-raising game.

Tingus Goose is an idle game, so if you do not like the genre, Tingus Goose is not for you. Fortunately, I do like idle games, even though I typically find them reaching a point where the continued draw wanes. Tingus Goose, however, is different.

When you complete a stage, you’re treated to a hand-drawn video that expands on the absurdity of Tingus Goose by building on its bizarre nature. With each mating of geese, they transform into a tree that births more weird combinations, which then go on to interact with others, leading to even more bizarre combinations.

The way it all works is that each stage has a loosely fitted theme of sprouts that grow from the ground goose’s neck as it grows to meet the sky goose. These sprouts allow you to create interaction points for the Tingus, which are babies shot out of the ground goose’s mouth.

The interaction points all have unique properties, making the Tingus act or be positioned in different ways. The more interactions you perform as the Tingus tumble their way to the ground, the more money you will make. Once they have reached the bottom, the Tingus cash themselves into the Piggy Bank, earning you more money.

The money allows you to buy water, which you pour onto the ground goose to make it grow. This means that maximising the path that builds your bank account is key to getting your ground goose to the sky goose, and in turn, the chance to watch another logic-defying video.

Throughout the stages, you can also earn gems. These modify conditions in the stage, give access to previous stages’ sprouts, and much more. The doctor who takes payment for these modifications is available every four minutes, but you can only hold a certain number of gems at any one time, so it is important to balance your growth with your purchases.

Lastly, completing a stage earns you calcium for your ground goose’s roots. The cow in the roots allows you to further expand on modifiers that continue from stage to stage, as it is laid out like a skill tree.

Does your brain hurt? I know mine is after trying to explain Tingus Goose. Ultimately, it’s entertaining in an outlandish, off-the-wall way, which, even for an idle game, is highly distracting as it encourages watching all the shenanigans on screen.

With its hand-drawn art and smooth, minimal animations, it is a delight to watch. Little splashes of colour to help highlight your sprouts against the primarily white background with black pencil-drawn borders. Overall, it’s very nice.

Where Tingus Goose stumbles is its music; granted, idle games are not expected to produce compelling music, but its instrumental piece is very repetitive. I found that after an hour or two, I turned the music off completely, letting the sound effects of Tingus’ cries, pops, and bounces fill the air.

Tingus Goose is a bizarre trip into the unknown depths of love and how it can transform you into something you never thought imaginable. If you enjoy idle games, this is certainly one to get, unless, of course, you like playing idle games so as not to get distracted. Either way, Tingus Goose is entertaining in a brain-melting way.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove