Smasher and the Will o' the Thiccs for Mac

The power of bulking up can save a city

Smasher and the Will o' the Thiccs is a free silly action video game wherein you can wield the power of strange flames to grow and save others. Developed by CreatureUnknown, this 2D indie game is a furry top-down golf game that doesn’t really penalize you for going over the stroke limit.

Made for the Weight Gaming 2020 Gain Jam, this game has you absorbing orange flames on the map, smashing through walls to get to your destination, and deflating the people afflicted with the strange bloating phenomenon. Take note, however, that the game can be pretty clunky and unstable.

Golfing and girthing

The story of Smasher and the Will o' the Thiccs revolves around Dakota “Smasher” Johnson, the resident shy badger who dreams of bulking up in weight. Surprisingly, he gets the chance to fulfill this dream after strange floating flames called “Will o' the Thiccs” suddenly appeared in his city and started bloating up anyone who touches them. He then steps up in order to clean the city of this menace.

The gameplay here consists of you clicking on Smasher and pulling back to slingshot him in any given direction. You need to wait for each “round” before pulling, however, dragging around can pan the camera and make it harder for you to take a shot. Another annoying thing here is that the larger Smasher gets, the harder it is to see your pointer line when aiming.

Plus, there’s no detailed in-game tutorial for the other controls available. The mechanics can take a bit to master but you have 9 levels to go through in the main story campaign to practice. Beating the main game will unlock Blueberry Mode, which changes your objective in the levels. The game also lets you customize your playable character with the 200 or so player skins.

Not as easy as it sounds

Overall, Smasher and the Will o' the Thiccs is one of the more unique furry games around since it combines golf mechanics with the funky game physics of growing objects smashing into other objects. There are numerous collectibles and goals you can aim for with the two game modes, too. However, there’s no detailed tutorial available and the gameplay controls can be difficult to wrangle.