MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has came to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 back in April, and since then, the shooter has seen an incredible amount of critical and commercial success. With the title having already recouped its publisher’s expenses last month, we are now looking to the future of the shooter. Luckily enough, various members of the development team were kind enough to answer our questions. Below you will find responses from studio founder and CEO Mateusz Michalak, art director and lead animator Michał Rostek, narrative designer Joachim Snoch, level designer Grzegorz Banasik, lead QA tester Rafał Bujalski, lead game designer Łukasz Błaszczyk, art producer Grzegorz Pamuła, and general manager Daniel Armstrong.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has now been out for a few weeks and has seen a strong response from both critics and players. What has surprised you the most about the way people have reacted to the game?
Mateusz Michalak: The response from critics and players has been incredible. We could not have expected this amount of love and support, and that’s probably been the most surprising thing, the scale of it all. Of course, we always believed that we had something special on our hands and hoped that MOUSE: P.I. For Hire would find an audience, but you never really know how a game will be received until it is out in the wild. Thankfully, the reception to the combat, world design, characters, narrative, references and everything else in between has been truly next level!
"We could not have expected this amount of love and support, and that’s probably been the most surprising thing, the scale of it all."
The game’s 1930s rubber hose art style was one of its biggest talking points before launch, and that seems to have carried through after release. Looking back now, do you feel the art direction connected with players in the way you hoped?
Michał Rostek: We believe so! While MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is certainly not the first title that has utilised rubber hose (with games like Cuphead and Bendy and the Ink Machine being great examples here), there was arguably a gap in the market when it came to first person shooters utilising the art style in a 3D worldspace, especially in black and white. It seems that this combination has really resonated with players, by both offering a unique visual experience and connecting them with an iconic era of animation.
Now that players have experienced the full game, what kind of feedback have you received on the balance between noir storytelling and the more exaggerated cartoon energy?
Joachim Snoch: Many have told us that the game strikes a nice balance between noir storytelling and exaggerated cartoon moments, which has been great to hear! It is something we worked really hard at, trying to tell a detective-based story that touches on more “serious” themes, while also letting players have fun with what is ultimately a video game filled with anthropomorphic mice, boomer shooter-inspired gameplay, and lots of easter eggs and references. Tons of references. Maybe too many at times, which is fair, but we hope it was still enjoyable all the same!
Some players and critics have praised the style and atmosphere, but also wanted more hands-on detective mechanics. Is that something you expected, and is it an area you would want to expand in future updates or potential follow-ups?
Grzegorz Banasik: It was definitely something we thought some players and critics would desire. We have described MOUSE: P.I. For Hire as being “detective-light”, wherein you are more so observing the journey of Jack Pepper collecting clues, connecting the dots, and figuring out the truth for himself. Though, we completely understand the desire for players to be more involved in the investigative process in a hands-on manner, and this is feedback we have taken on board for the future!
"Many have told us that the game strikes a nice balance between noir storytelling and exaggerated cartoon moments, which has been great to hear!"
Post-launch support has already addressed crashes, black screen hangs, progression blockers, side quest issues, and softlocks. What have been the biggest technical priorities for the team since launch?
Mateusz Michalak: As you mentioned, the team has been hard at work on Hotfixes for key issues, particularly instances where players may have been getting blocked or soft-locked. While we believe that the game is in a good place, one of our biggest focuses right now is on Nintendo Switch 2 and addressing feedback from players with regards to performance. We hope to have more news to share regarding this in the coming weeks and we really do thank players for their patience on this.
Some players have asked for features like ultrawide support, New Game Plus, level replay, and more customization options. Are any of these on the table for future updates?
Łukasz Błaszczyk: We have seen lots of great feedback and suggestions from our community for new features in MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, and we are actively investigating and even prototyping some of these. While it is a bit too early to confirm if all of these features are coming to the game, we can say that we are working on a solution for the game to be playable in ultrawide. Without going into too much detail, this is more of a temporary “alpha” fix, wherein weapons and effects will be cut off at the edges, but the environment will be viewable in ultrawide. For us to support ultrawide in full without these drawbacks, we will need to redraw every weapon and effect to properly scale to the ultrawide perspective, and this will take some time. As for other features you mentioned and beyond, we don’t want to announce any new features that aren’t yet fully cooked, so please stay tuned to our social accounts for more updates in the future!
A fan-made MOUSE: Reloaded mod is already experimenting with Enhanced Black and White, Sepia, and Full Colour modes, along with other quality-of-life features. What has the team’s reaction been to seeing modders reinterpret the game’s visual identity so quickly? Given the interest around that mod, is an official full color mode something the team would ever consider, even as an optional visual filter? Or do you feel the black-and-white presentation is too central to the game’s identity?
Grzegorz Pamuła: It has been incredible seeing the entire community’s passion towards MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, including those in the modding scene! From the beginning, we always envisioned our game to be in full black and white, particularly given our inspirations from the rubber hose era of animation and detective noir films and shows. While we can’t confirm whether we are able to implement features like color filters or a full color mode, we completely understand the desire from fans to experience the game with colors!
"From the beginning, we always envisioned our game to be in full black and white, particularly given our inspirations from the rubber hose era of animation and detective noir films and shows."
The hotfix notes mention graphics setting adjustments on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to improve the Quality Mode experience. Are there more console-side performance or visual improvements planned?
Daniel Armstrong: We are always looking at ways we can leverage console hardware and provide improvements best suited to those platforms, with Mouse Mode on Nintendo Switch 2 being an example of that. The best place for players to keep informed on all future updates are the MOUSE: P.I. For Hire social channels, so please stay tuned for more news!
From a developer perspective, how has the PS5 Pro version turned out compared to the base PS5 version, and did the added GPU power meaningfully change what you were able to deliver?
Mateusz Michalak: MOUSE: P.I. For Hire does not have a PS5 Pro mode where it takes full advantage of the extra GPU power, so it is not something which meaningfully changed what we delivered with that hardware. But more to the point, the game is already very optimised when it comes to GPU usage, so there would actually be little to gain from PS5 Pro support. Base PS5 consoles have enough GPU performance for all our visual features at the Ultra Quality preset.
Now that MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is complete and out in the wild, what is the biggest lesson the team has learned from launch that you would carry into future projects?
Rafał Bujalski: MOUSE: P.I. For Hire was our very first game at Fumi Games, so we learned a lot! But arguably the biggest takeaway has been the importance of playtesting. We ran countless internal feedback sessions, user tests and mock reviews prior to release, and these were instrumental in ensuring that we landed the game’s launch. And now that the game is out in the wild, we have even more great suggestions from thousands of players. Our goal is to continue to dive into these reports, determine what players want to see, and then work to incorporate that feedback, both into the base game and potential projects in the future!