Review – Agatha Knife

Agatha Knife
Developer – Mango Protocol
Publisher – Mango Protocol
Platform – Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC

Agatha Knife is a unique little girl who helps out in her family’s butcher shop, killing and cutting up the animals–a simple life–until a new supermarket moves into town and Agatha now has to save her family shop as well as deal with the fact the animals around her are terrified.

What does our young heroine do? Start her own religion of course!

Agatha Knife is a point and click game that tasks you with saving the titular character’s mother’s butcher shop and convincing the animals, that the 7-year-old girl love, that it is okay to die in order to become meat. Traversing the quirky world, your mission is to start a religion called Carnivorism to achieve her goals.

The controls and gameplay are typical for the genre, which isn’t a bad thing. The strength of the genre is in its writing, and that is something that developer Mango Protocol has done it very well. The game’s characters and setting are all twisted in a normalized way. Each character is messed up but thinks themself normal, believing that it is everyone around them that are the weird ones. Even Agatha herself is subject to a running joke where people find out that she lives in the same room that she slaughters animals in, letting her know just how messed up it is.

There is a sort-of whimsical horror vibe to the game, reminding me of the Lenore the Dead Little Girl comic series.

Helping the people and animals of your town furthers your own goal and the quests they give you are all kinds of bizarre.

Overall the game is good, though I feel like interacting with scenes doesn’t carry over the rest of the game‘s tone at certain points. A better way to explain it is that a hilarious scene will happen and the next scene will be so typical-a-moment of writing, that it feels like a different game. It is also a very contemporary point-and-click game. Fans of older entries into the genre don’t expect the nuances of the genre that a lot of older adventure game fans seem to still demand. Multiple paths to solve every project, large amounts of difficulty, etc. That is not a negative, not on the game itself, just a warning for people expecting a Dream Web-like experience. Though, if you are a fan of the classic Sam & Max series, then you will like Agatha Knife.

SO WHAT’S OUR VERDICT?

Agatha Knife is an enjoyable point-and-click adventure game. It is a grim form of whimsy that I think a lot of gamers will enjoy. Just don’t be dissuaded when a scene pops up lacking that charm; it is still worth playing.