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When you have a free-to-play game, you also have to figure there are systems to get you to keep playing and perhaps spend real money on it. That definitely happens in Hamster Playground, a game about raising and caring for pet hamsters, but the bonus here is that it really only feels like you have to spend about $12 to get the most out of it.
Like most animal or pet raising games, Hamster Playground starts by adopting a hamster. You can only have one at the start, but leveling up by completing missions allows the option to bring more home. Speaking of which, the home is a dilapidated mess to start. You also start out with no additional minigame modes and no clothing for them. So your goal is to eventually send them to the work space or complete missions to earn currency, complete missions that can be tied to tasks or purchases to upgrade and improve the home, and go through minigames (if you buy them). As hamsters grow stronger in areas, they’ll be better at certain minigame tasks. Also, you’ll get enough spending money for costumes (though some you need to buy with real cash before buying with in-game currency) and other customization options.
The thing about Hamster Playground is that for much of it, it’s a wait and watch game. You’ll need things like screws to repair necessary resource centers for hamsters after a while. Those are, say, your bed, shower, toilet, trampoline, water dispenser, and food dispenser. For the environment, you will use things like blue stars. Coins can go toward the clothing. Plus you’ll need sunflower seeds for bolstering things like dexterity and intelligence. Which means you’ll likely be sending the hamster to the workspace location to have your pet “work” to earn them, while stepping away from the game until the critter needs to eat, drink, wash, use the potty, play, or sleep. At which point you may be sending them back over again.
Which means if you don’t pay the about $12, Hamster Playground can feel like a repetitive grind. You’ll be going through the same routine to buy the items you want or need. When you aren’t doing that shopping or decorating, you’ll be tending to the basic needs of your hamster in the game or having them work so you can do those things. The animations are fun and lean into the silliness of the situation, rather than more serious or realistic ones. Likewise, the hamsters themselves have more human-like expressions. (I’m actually not a fan of that. I think they look a little creepy!) The details going into it are good, and it looks and runs well on the Switch.
If you do pay the additional about $12 for Hamster Playground, then you get more “game” for the pet-raising sim. This is because brief Beward the Cat, Eating Contest, Skateboard, and Vehicle Pull minigames you can play alone against the CPU or against other players are locked behind DLC. The only minigame in the free version is a Maze. That involves going through timed QTEs at certain points to help the hamster get through it faster, with the sunflower-seed-based training sections improving stats for those. The other minigames, though having different elements like racing down a track on a skateboard, eating food, pulling a toy vehicle, or playing red-light-green-light with a Squid Games like cat toy, also feature the same sort of QTEs to proceed. None last more than a minute or two.
These are means of getting currency and interacting with the hamsters more. They’re fine for what they are, but I feel like you don’t really have to spend $12 for each $2.99 minigame unless you really want all gameplay elements. The Maze itself is fine, and I feel like the Beware the Cat and Eating Contest ones were the only two that felt distinct or special enough for an extra purpose. Though I’d say the Skateboard minigame is a close third. Unless you really are into dressing up hamsters and feel like paying for the other cosmetics, those are really the only paid purchases I feel like you’d have to make.
Hamster Playground is a pet raising game where it can feel like you’re there to complete missions and earn enough currency for the cosmetics you want. It looks fine and has a silliness to it that I appreciate. I also like that the only essential purchases connected to it involve some affordable minigames, and like you could even just go for the one or two you like instead of all four. It’s pleasant enough, even though I can see it getting tedious as you grind to complete your personal or game-mandated objectives. Considering the base game is free though, the design quality is higher than I expected and it is an entertaining diversion.
Hamster Playground is available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.
