Chicken Police Into The Hive Review (PC) – Double Yolker

It’s apt that Chicken Police: Into the Hive begins with a quote from Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely. The second Philip Marlowe novel, the one that had so much to prove; that The Big Sleep’s success wasn’t a fluke, that he could do it again, that he could make it into a classic noir series. Into The Hive roosts in that same space; the second in a series that’s maybe hoping to become a clutch of successful games, and prove the first wasn’t a one-in-a-million double yolker.

Sonny Featherland, Clawville’s anthropomorphic answer to Philip Marlowe, is even more down on his luck, even more ostracised, and even more hard-boiled than ever. He’s joined once again by partner Marty MacChicken on an investigation into a slew of missing bodies – bodies gone missing after they died. And this time their investigations quickly lead into the walled-off, insect-infested underworld of the Hive.

But is Chicken Police Into The Hive all cluck and no peck? Is it just noir style without the social commentary and effective character study of its influences? Or is it just possible that lightning can strike the same place twice?

If I Die Tonight, Bury Me Here, Under The Cold Dead Cases

The Chicken Police were already famous and stars of some ten-cent paperbacks when the first game brought them back together in an investigation that led to bringing down the city’s biggest gang leader. This time around Clawville and its problems are ones of the chicken’s own making. Into the power vacuum of the Wesler Empire’s demise came a number of brutal pretenders looking to corner the underworld, and a government segregation act that walled off the insect section of the city.

While things start in a similar fashion to the first game (a dame showing up at Sonny’s office kicks off the case) it’s really the world made by the last case that we’re investigating. Some insects have died and their bodies have disappeared right out of their graves, and everything leads incredibly quickly to the Hive and its denizens. Anyone already on the trail turns up dead in the chicken’s path, and things lead inexorably towards a psychotic mandrill. And that’s just a bit of chapter 1 without too many spoilers. Add in a few Femme Fatales, cults, and royalty and you’ve got yourself another bestseller.

Chicken Police’s story and investigation will feel very much on par with the first outing. Things haven’t dramatically changed and for the most part, it’s a visual novel with point-and-click elements and a few small minigames, clue-sorting activities, and the interrogation-style conversation to mix things up. These are a fair bit sparser than in the first outing (beyond the firing range and a few instances where you put clues together there’s not much else) but then again none feel out of place here, where sometimes they didn’t work particularly well in the first game.

With this second game there seemed a slight tendency for it to be too easy to move too fast – for example to move on to questioning a suspect or informant before you’ve exhausted all the conversation options, and then suddenly having clues and evidence in the next section that you hadn’t unearthed yourself. Structurally there were also a few issues in the final acts – events were suddenly happening that hadn’t been mentioned let alone foreshadowed, and the final two chapters can be finished in just a few minutes. Considering the first takes hours, that seemed odd and rushed. I get the feeling a few planned scenes may have hit the cutting room floor in the interests of getting the game finished, which is a little bit of a shame.

Across its close to 10 hours, it’s still an incredibly successful noir thriller, full of interesting characters who’ll make you hang on their every word, some of the best dialogue and delivery in any game, and a narrative that keeps you guessing and surprised even if there are times you think you’ve sussed it out. I would be hard pressed to say whether it was that slight bit better or worse than its predecessor – I think they are virtually on par and of exactly the same quality. The only reason to like one more than another might be the story, the animals involved, the femme fatales, that kind of thing.

I’d Rather Stay In The Shadows

In terms of style, Chicken Police Into The Hive has it in spades. There’s not a scene in the whole game that doesn’t ooze with that noir vibe, the seedy underbelly of the city, the secrets and lies and the contempt Sonny Featherland has for so much of it. The Hard-boiled style is nigh on perfect.

Visually there’s a little less to say this time around. Into The Hive is the same noir thriller, with everything in glorious black and white, so there’s little to peck at there. It’s just as sumptuous as the first game. This time though they’ve gone and added a colour mode that you can flick on and off like a faulty light switch, making the game feel like it was made at the transition from black and white movies to Technicolor – something that virtually killed off the noir style. It bathes the scenes in colour while retaining all that shadow work, and it suddenly lets you know that Monica’s plumage is blue or the Chicken Police’s combs are red, but beyond that, I didn’t care for it.

I found myself switching it to colour only for that momentary information, and then switching it right on back to noir. Chicken Police’s identity is largely wrapped up in it being one of a handful of games that embrace black and white, and somehow giving players the option to switch to colour seems too close to pandering to a dumber wider audience. I’d rather stay in the shadows, thank you very much. I’m proud to say I played the whole game, from egg to chicken, in black and white, as nature intended.

Let’s Investigate The Cluck Out Of This Shit!

Sonny Featherland is perhaps the best-voiced character in modern gaming. His noir delivery and gravelly drawl are on par with David Hayter as Solid Snake or Troy Baker as Joel. Kerry Shale should be a more well-known name, but life ain’t fair, is it Sonny? Across every conversation in Into The Hive voice acting quality is incredibly high, some of the best voice acting in all of indie gaming.

The soundtrack was also once again fantastic, full of era-faithful instrumentation and melodies, and really thematic and classy. The ambient themes of quite a selection of locales will stick with me, evoking that place if I ever hear them, they are so characteristic and unique to Chicken Police. It’s the same quality of soundtrack as the Persona series’ jazz.

Chicken Police Into The Hive nails the noir aesthetic it’s aiming for with a bullseye. It’s dialogue is a wonderful homage to Chandler with memorable lines and delivery throughout. And second time around it’s the same high-quality product as Paint It Red, from the scene setting to the lighting, from the investigations to the throwaway comments, from the seedy narrative right to the anthropomorphic denizens of Clawville, everything is pitch-perfect and en pointe.

Chicken Police Into The Hive is available now on PC (review platform), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and even Mac.

Developer: The Wild Gentlemen
Publisher: Joystick Ventures

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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