Well, pluck me running
The Wild Gentlemen and Joystick Ventures have announced that the Chicken Police are returning in Chicken Police: Into the Hive. It’s currently set for release sometime in 2024.
I didn’t play Chicken Police: Paint it RED when it was released in 2020, but did pick it up the following year. It was fantastic. I may have missed its review window, but I still ended up praising it high-and-low in a later article. While the first game stuck to its noir trappings, it was a strangely optimistic story that left me with good feels, even while its narrative was decidedly dark. While it has a strange veneer, it also presents an intriguing world that I’m excited to see further explored.
While Chicken Police: Into the Hive’s trailer is somewhat lacking in specifics, the Hive was explained in the previous game. It’s essentially an area where the city of Clawville sends its unwanted, which is a slightly more generous way of saying that it’s a slum for insects. Manny expresses regret that the population was treated so unfairly, but the area isn’t really explored beyond that in the first game.
This makes the Hive a fertile ground for storytelling in Chicken Police: Into the Hive. Again, the trailer only gives hints of what it’s going to cover, but it depicts a cold-blooded murder and unrest in the streets.
Moreover, it shows a return of the unique mix of photo-manipulation and anthropomorphic animal characters that helped the first game stand out. I’m so jazzed for this. I can barely contain all my jazz.
Unfortunately, I’ll need to keep a lid on my jazz until 2024, which is when Chicken Police: Into the Hive is expected to launch on PC.