Mouse & Crane sneak onto Switch

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Child-friendly solo or co-op multiplayer puzzle adventure available now to download from the Nintendo eShop

There don't seem to be as many child-focused adventure games as there used to be, but parents of younger children may just find exactly what they're looking for on the Nintendo Switch with the recent release of the single-player or co-op multiplayer puzzle adventure, Mouse & Crane.

Although only two names made the title, the game actually features three different protagonists who live together in a harbor. Mouse is a brave and passionate but rather impatient rodent who crash-lands into the water and is now looking to acquire the tools that will allow him to "repair and build machines and equipment needed to fix the space equipment" that will take him back to outer space. Fortunately he has the help of two unlikely friends – the eight-year-old Crane, who is the biggest and strongest of the three but "not yet fully aware of their growing strength, only that it cases growing pains," and Electryna, a six-year-old half-mechanical pig who supports the group with her optimism and her ability to provide electrical charges when she's not snoozing on her solar-powered sunbed charger. Together the three of them must use their unique abilities to overcome a variety of obstacles using only "everyday tools such as a screwdriver or a glue gun," as well as the most important tool of all: imagination.

Co-produced by a pair of women-led development studios, Denmark’s Those Eyes and Canada's Tobo, Mouse & Crane features a charming "hand-drawn collage aesthetic" blending cartoony characters with more realistic environmental details that will surely appeal to its target demographic of younger players, particularly children between four to seven years old who may be relatively new to games. Along with offering fun puzzles to solve, promoting experimentation through easy-to-use controls, the game will present "teachable moments" that raise environmental awareness through themes like recycling and construction without requiring the ability to read. The game came be played solo, allowing players to control Crane's arm and "progressively discover various upgrades such as a giant magnet to grab metal scraps and tools, or a wrecking ball for the most satisfying demolitions," but it also has a co-op option to play with a friend, sibling or parent, in which one player controls Crane while the other can "make Electryna move and jump with fun motion controls," which encourages children to "solve problems peacefully through creativity and collaboration." 

The planned mobile version of Mouse & Crane isn't ready just yet, but the game is available now for Switch from the Nintendo eShop, with a limited-time launch discount. 

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