PS5 Review: Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator

Is this game a steal or are you being robbed?

Filthy Animals is a chaotic multiplayer heist game for 1-4 players. Become a mutant animal working for criminal mastermind Tony as you steal, fight, fall over, and eat tacos while trying to make off with the loot. Solve puzzles, avoid enemies, and bumble your way to victory, ya Filthy Animal!

Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator is a game where you and up to 3 other players made up of mutant animals, go heisting everything in sight from locations including a bank, military base, spaceship, supermart and a few others. Looting each location isn’t as simple as it seems as there are puzzle elements to deal with, as well as controls that would give Octodad a run for his money.

To say it’s frustrating to control is an understatement. Some would say that’s part of the fun as it is with games that have similar janky and unconventional control methods, but personally I can’t say I’m a fan. Each level has secondary objectives as well such as eating a number of tacos or finding the letters F-I-L-T-H-Y in a weird homage to Donkey Kong Country. It does have a few moments of fun to be found if you are playing with others, because trying to do all the tasks yourself is torture.

The main problem I found is that once you’ve done one level, then you essentially know what to expect from each following one. There’s no surprises to be found afterwards other than a new target to score, but essentially it does become routine. There’s a nice sense of humour to be found in the game, especially with the mastermind Tony but the actual animals themselves don’t have much personality.

The visuals are basic but get the job done. There’s a decent art style here and the framerate is mostly consistent. I did struggle to find online matches but I don’t know if that’s because of server issues or a lack of players at this point, but the games I did find ran well for the most part.

The Verdict

Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator has good ideas but are poorly executed. It’s controls are purposefully annoying, which is one thing if you like that…but the actual levels do all roll into one so there’s no surprises after the first one you play. Simply put, it’s fun in small doses.

Score: 6.0