Whisker Squadron is a procedurally generated Star Fox game with kitty cat pilots

Earlier this week I got the chance to play an early demo of the latest game from Flippfly, the small indie team of developers behind cult hit Race The Sun. If you were hungry for the next Star Fox game (that isn’t tied to a line of collectible toys) boy do I have good news for you.

It’s called Whisker Squadron, and it takes all the best parts of Nintendo’s classic third-person arcade shooter and adds a dollop of adorable kitty cats. Most of the art for those characters — as well as whatever backstory they might have — is still under wraps. All I know is that the city is under attack, and only me and my trust Arw... cough ... spaceship can save the day.

What’s exciting about Whisker Squadron is what it draws in from Race The Sun, and what it leaves behind. Those who have played the monochromatic racing game have come to love its chill, almost pastoral vibe and techno-glockenspiel soundtrack. But what I love about that game is, even years after its launch, every level is different each time I play.

That’s because the game randomly generates its landscapes on a daily basis. We’re not talking just connecting the same pieces of terrain in different orders, mind you. Procedural generation makes sure it’s always wildly different, and that makes it something that I can return to even more than seven years after it initially launched.

That same kind of randomness is being applied to Whisker Squadron, and that means there’s the potential for a new set of Star Fox levels every day.

Grid View

• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly
• Image: Flippfly

The game is a lock for Windows PC, but what about the next generation consoles launching this month?

“I’d definitely like to see this on the Series X and PS5 at some point,” said Aaron San Fillipo via email, “in addition to the outgoing generation of consoles and the Switch. I don’t have specific plans for launch platforms yet, but all the consoles are on the table right now.”

Expect Whisker Squadron to head to Kickstarter soon.