Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion review for Nintendo Switch, PC

Here?s something I wasn?t expecting: that a top-down RPG would be an early frontrunner for my Game of the Year pick.

I know, I know, it?s still very early to be making those kinds of declarations (though the upcoming calendar is a little lacking). But even so, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion hits all my gaming sweet spots: it?s funny, it?s enjoyable, and it only takes a few hours to beat. As far as I?m concerned, that?s a combo that?s hard to beat.

What makes it so surprising for me, though, is what I referred to in that first sentence: I?m not usually a fan of old-school, top-down RPGs. Occasionally I?ll play one that I find tolerable, but I don?t usually have patience for them. With Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, however, I was hooked right from the get-go, and I found it hard to put it down and do more essential things, like sleep. (Mind you, this problem could have been avoided if I?d just started playing it a little earlier in the day, since the whole game can easily be beaten in well under three hours.)

There are a couple of reasons why I found it so addictive. First, because of its short length, it?s pretty streamlined. Rather than wasting your time on length-padding fetch quests or grinding, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is constantly pushing you towards your next objective. There are some side quests here and there, but they?re fairly easy to do within the course of your main objectives, so you never have to backtrack extensively or go out of your way to do anything.

What?s more, you?ll want to explore everything Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion has to offer because it?s so endlessly amusing. The game is constantly poking fun at tropes of the genre without ever falling into the trap of making you do the thing it?s mocking. For example, the very first item you come across is a watering can…which, surprisingly, ends up being useful, since you have to water a lot of plants. Or when you pick up a sword that?s described as being kind of weak…but it turns out that?s generally enough to beat most of this game?s enemies. On top of that, the characters you meet are all hilarious, and they all have one-sided conversations with the eponymous silent protagonist that regularly made me grin.

On this point, I?ll also note that Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion has a vague hint of Adventure Time about it. Between the sentient food characters, the fairly broad hints that the game is taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, and the constant jokes, it?s not quite a perfect match, but if you tilt your head and squint just-so, you can kind of see some similarities.

As I said, I know that it?s early in the year to be even thinking about things like GOTY nominations, and I may look back in seven months and wonder why I was being so hyperbolic. But given how much I enjoyed Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion from start to end, I?m feeling pretty confident right now that I?ll be remembering this game fondly for quite some time.

Graffiti Games provided us with a Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion Switch code for review purposes.