There is a really handy means of precisely and succinctly summing up the diploma of absurdity to which Goat Simulator 3 aspires: There isn’t any such factor as Goat Simulator 2.

Those aware of Coffee Stain’s caprine and chaotic antics will seemingly acknowledge Goat Simulator because the wildly widespread sandbox recreation from means again when. For these unacquainted with it, the premise is easy: You’re a goat with a penchant for misbehaving, tasked with inflicting as a lot of a ruckus as attainable. From headbutting civilians to sticking your tongue to all the things in sight, it’s a recreation that largely revolves round full and utter bedlam.

The sequel — once more, Goat Simulator 3, as a result of three comes after one in goatspeak — is based upon comparable rules of chaos. What might strike individuals as stunning, nonetheless, is that it’s a sort of chaos that has been filtered via a layer of sophistication. It’s clearly not an Arkane recreation (think about if Goat Simulator came about in Dunwall…), however it’s a marked enchancment when thought-about subsequent to the unique. So whereas it’s not essentially my jam, I can admit that it is aware of what it desires to be, and places all the things it has into turning into exactly that.

Ironically, Goat Simulator’s best power was all the time how roughly hewn its mechanical make-up was. The recreation, which originated as a joke mission designed for a recreation jam, was riddled with the sorts of bugs that ought to have made it near-impossible to play — however by advantage of its nature as a literal goat simulator, they only made it even funnier. From Pilgor the goat’s raucous ragdolling to the wild emergent shenanigans that might come up from invisible gaps within the sandbox’s stitching, Goat Simulator rapidly established itself as a wonderful recreation to play with buddies.

Image: Coffee Stain

This is one in all many particulars that the builders at Coffee Stain have evidently been conscious of whereas engaged on Goat Simulator 3. While the unique recreation supported sofa co-op, the sequel encompasses a devoted on-line multiplayer element that enables as much as 4 gamers to compete in varied minigames, which embody proprietary variations of golf, treasure hunts, and The Floor Is Lava. If the unique recreation was a jagged rock, Goat Simulator 3 is the product of what occurs once you mine that rock for gems and embed them in one thing nicer to take a look at. It’s not a diamond necklace, however it’s, like… a clean panel of granite with a few rocks that appear to be diamonds interspersed all through. As I stated earlier: It is aware of what it’s aiming for and is excellent at staying true to that.

But it’s additionally formidable in different methods. Rather than being a pure sandbox that’s solely designed to facilitate mayhem, Goat Simulator 3 has a narrative mode. It’s not precisely aiming for status storytelling (I’m not joking once I say it’s actually in regards to the Goat Illuminati), however it’s there to function a kind of basic information to weave all the particular person cases of absurdity collectively. To progress the story, you basically go to Ubisoft open world-style towers which can be sporadically dotted throughout the map, every of which can assist you in unlocking an imposing and mysterious door that leads the way in which to Goat Castle. What lies behind it’s anybody’s guess — however odds are it’s in all probability fairly wild.

The most important story clearly isn’t overly demanding — an infinite a part of Goat Simulator 3’s attraction is the very fact it typically asks little or no of you, leaving you to your individual gadgets most of the time. But the size of this model of play has additionally been expanded and iterated upon.

For instance, there’s a home someplace on the map owned by an outdated girl with a rocket launcher. When you method her, she’ll begin taking pictures at you, however for those who hit her together with your firework launcher or headbutt her, you’ll unlock a secret passage to her cellar that results in… a retro Doom-style hall shooter populated by a dozen different bazooka grannies. Once you defeat all of them, you possibly can really unlock this character as an attachment — and provided that in addition to a goat, you possibly can play as a shark, a giraffe, and extra, the problem of “How bizarre can we make this game?” was clearly a daily subject of dialogue throughout improvement.

You can fairly actually play Goat Simulator 3 as a shark on a skateboard being ridden by an outdated girl with a rocket launcher.

Image: Coffee Stain

Ultimately, Goat Simulator 3 might be precisely what you suppose it’s. It’s a extra polished model of the primary recreation with tons of latest options, most of which have clearly come from rigorously observing the weather of the unique that resonated with individuals. The mobility is a bit of tighter, the sandbox is a bit more responsive, and the random achievements have a bit of extra rhyme and purpose to them. But finally, it’s nonetheless a foolish recreation about being a extremely annoying goat — there’s a fairly low ceiling for a way severe that may be.

More so than the rest, Goat Simulator 3 appears like a fantastic get together recreation to play with buddies. Everyone at my demo session at Gamescom, together with the individuals I wasn’t in a foyer with, was laughing for just about 100% of the time I used to be there. It’s not deserving of particular reverence for its work in innovation, methods design, or absolutely anything else. But it’s troublesome to criticize one thing that has a really clear design ethos and manages to stick to it with nearly good accuracy.

If you reckon you could be fascinated with Goat Simulator 3, you’ll be — and that’s probably the most truthful factor anybody can say about it.

Goat Simulator 3 heads to PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Nov. 17.