Wreckin' Raccoon Impressions: Mindless, Childish Fun

Wreckin’ Raccoon is the latest entry in the VR genre of chaotic sims that put you in the feral paws of a mammal.

It is fitting that nDreams studio Compass chose a raccoon as the animal to respond to the enduring popularity of Gorilla Tag. Chaotic trash lovers, these distant bear relatives are well known to anyone who scrolls through social media. Videos of these mischievous mammals breaking into houses, leaving a mess, or simply getting caught in the act are a dime a dozen. Not too far from the truth, Wreckin' Raccoon has players swinging their arms around in hopes of finding their next meal, even if it means annoying the humans in their vicinity to no end. While the current offering can be made short work of, it surprises with a few more activities than meet the eye.

Out of Early Access earlier this year, the premise of Wreckin’ Raccoon shoots straight: eat every snack in sight in a pitstop diner. Billed as “Be The Chaos,” embodying the titular raccoon means an uncompromising type of gameplay that is committed to childish fun. Only able to move with a primal arm-swinging locomotion, you can also climb and jump by holding the grip button and doing a vigorous forward gesture. On your left shoulder you can grab a smartphone with your options and tasks, and on the right one store all sorts of wacky tools.

There is one level at the time of writing, and that is the aforementioned restaurant. The only thing standing in your way is an unfortunate cook, who, if you annoy too much, will call pest control. Your real enemy, if he catches you, it is game over. If your primary goal is to cause unfettered destruction, this unwanted exterminator can be turned off from the game's options. In the background, an oblivious beach blonde can be interacted with as well.

To clarify, said interactions consist of finding increasingly over-the-top ways to knock out or irritate the NPCs. As cartoony graphics go, Wreckin’ Raccoon looks pretty. It, too, allows for unhinged situations such as using a chainsaw, a flamethrower, and kitchen utensils to use against your would-be captors. Thankfully, no blood depiction to speak of exists in-game.

Although it seems basic at first, new mechanics other than antagonizing the public in tow are revealed the more you play. For example, you can actually cook in the kitchen. Deep-frying french fries and onion rings and turning on the stove to roast eggs, meat patties, and sausages to stack the ultimate burger can be done. Shaking soda cans to screw with electronics like the cash register is another way to cause a nightmare for the staff. These activities turn out to have a bigger purpose.

The ultimate goal is to complete tasks like tasering the pest control operator with his own weapon or placing bananas so the unlucky employee falls to customize the color of your paws and tail. Moreover, hidden gold-plated food around the eatery can be found to unlock a golden skin. Codes from triangle, square, and circle shapes can be inputted into a jukebox to change the tune of your wreck. So, a concerted effort to do things beyond toying with the employees and customers entices players to explore other possibilities than causing a mess.

Let's not beat around the bush: this is a game intended for kids. With the press of the A button, your raccoon can release flatulence, and loud burps can be heard every time it eats something. The toilet humor is abundant. This nasty critter’s movement feels imprecise, but considering the mindless chaos it wants you to cause, it seems by design. It helps that the NPCs would sometimes stumble into each other while pursuing me and glitch out in place. What is on offer is fun, but it runs out quickly, and several more levels and multiplayer could at least entertain for a longer period.

You have to meet games in the middle. Wreckin’ Raccoon is clearly a response to the ongoing trends going on in virtual reality. Or at least, in the Meta Quest’s ecosystem. Looking at it from that lens, there is certainly fun to be had. Explore a roadside diner while completing silly tasks and finding shiny objects; cause endless chaos with caricature depictions of people, Saturday morning cartoon-style; be the rowdy trash panda you have always wanted to be; just do not think about it too much.

Wreckin’ Raccoon is out now on Meta Quest.