A case worth waiting for? The handcrafted noir comedy Mouse PI For Hire brings 1930s cartoon magic to life. The game looks promising but the devs need a little more time to make it shine

Mouse: P.I. For Hire got pushed back and is now set to drop in March 2026, but the team at Fumi Games has been keeping us in the loop. The FPS stands out with its 1930s rubber-hose cartoon vibe, and since almost every bit of the world is drawn frame by frame, it’s no surprise the devs are taking their time, pulling off that kind of handcrafted 3D environment isn’t easy.

Drawn to perfection

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a noir comedy that follows Jack Pepper (voiced by Troy Baker), a private investigator and war veteran, as he tackles three different cases in the gritty yet humorous city of Mouseberg. In their recent Deep Dive Documentary, the developers talked about the challenge of keeping the black-and-white art style while still guiding players effectively. They’ve tackled this by using light and contrast to make interactable objects stand out from the background.

Every character, weapon, and visual element is hand-drawn frame by frame to capture that authentic 1930s rubber-hose animation feel, complete with bending, stretching, and squashing. To make the 2D characters fit seamlessly into a 3D world, the team has to draw six different angles for each one, which explains why development is taking time.

Gameplay blends action and investigation. Players collect clues and pin them on a corkboard in Jack’s office to move the story forward. The Hub Zone features Jack’s office, a pub, and a workshop for upgrading guns, plus extras like a baseball card mini-game that offers hints and upgrade parts.

Source: Mouse P.I. For Hire; Developer: Fumi Games

Combat mixes classic and over-the-top cartoon weapons, like a freeze gun or even a conscious gun. Enemies appear in phases, later gaining modifiers like force fields to keep encounters challenging.

And to top it off, players can customize the audio with distortion filters that make the soundtrack sound like it’s coming from an old wax cylinder or vintage 1930s-’40s vinyl. So let’s just hope that Mouse P.I. For Hire won’t get another delay and makes its debut on March 19, 2026 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Switch 1 & 2.

Mouse: P.I. for Hire

March 19, 2026

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• action games
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• FPP shooters (FPS)