I’ve played some terrifying games this year, but the upcoming App Store title Himster is looking to serve a serious challenge towards the likes of Outlast 2 and Resident Evil 7 for the most horrifying release of 2017. In Himster, you control the titular upgraded hamster, which is claimed to be 95% more fun and have 75% more energy than your average cat, dog or fish that are currently the post popular pets in the world. The resulting creation is a hideous yet deceptively adorable rectangular-shaped Himster, which is able to stretch and fly around the rainbow-tinted backdrop to solve the many puzzles across the game’s numerous platforming challenge modes. This may sound like an incredibly bizarre concept – and you’re totally right – however the brilliant gameplay trailer below gives a glimpse of what to expect from this eccentric arcade game before it launches in the near future.

Putting the humor of the game aside, I’m quite impressed by the amount of charm that the flailing eponymous animal has as the Himster navigates the incredibly varied challenges in its path. With pivots that can swing your character over spiky traps, and terrain that affects the movement and travel of the animal, there is a lot of potential for developer Set Snail to keep the action varied over the course of the game. Furthermore, the promise of a dedicated speed-run mode with six daily levels, as well as an endless mode creatively titled ‘4ever’, give an incentive to keep on playing Set Snail beyond its initial release period. With no release date stated it’s clear that it’s still relatively early days for Himster, even if the early signs and footage is looking remarkably encouraging. If you’d like an early glimpse of Himster, and to lend a helping paw in the game’s development, feel free to sign up for the beta testing phase on our forum thread.