Turnip boy, look at the cute little leaves on your head. Look at your cute little stumpy legs. Your shovel of mass destruction and your… portal potplant?

Turnip Boy commits Tax Evasion is a cute little indie adventure game in the vein of old school Zelda. Is this an indie gem worth picking up? Or is it just another passion project that really shouldn’t be thought about? Let’s have a look.

I am a glutton for a good soundtrack. Turnip Boy has this in spades. From the main menu soundtrack to the ambient music for all the different areas, the sound design here is really well thought out and put together. Particularly the themes for the different boss fights. I had a great time just listening and is actually a soundtrack I would think about picking up with the game were that an option. It’s really quaint and fits the aesthetic of the game really well.

The story of the game is relatively light, but it keeps the game chugging along. There is some darker undertones hinted at through the game, about nuclear war, and the bunker section of the game with a constant siren going over is actually quite eerie. The game as whole is quite upbeat and jovial, but there is always this lurking feeling of something sinister.

Also, Turnip Boy really hates tax, documents, letters. Pretty much anything he can get his hands on, is going to be ripped up. The NPCS typically have a response to Turnip Boy ripping up things in front of their face, and the humour is abundant.

On that note, this game’s humour is a big nod to internet culture. From the uwu Cat, who asks “did you not wike my dwaing?” when you tear it up in front of her, to the Riggatoni pasta man who lets you know he graduated at the top of his class in the Pasta Seals. There is a whole lot of millennial and Gen Z humour in the game that I found a lot of appreciation for.

The humour is never too much though, which is great as well. It never overshadows the story, but it reminds you that this game is for fun. It’s designed to be enjoyed and played for fun. There developers have included a god mode and increase to player strength options in the game options, which I only discovered after beating the game. I don’t really see a need to put either of these on, but for players who find themselves struggling a little with the boss fights, there is the option there to just enjoy the game for its humour and story, and not have to worry about being good at adventure games. Granted, the game isn’t particularly difficult. I died maybe twice overall.

Some people may be dissuaded by the fact that the game is 100% completable in about an hour. My first playthrough (and probably my only) lasted about 3 hours. It’s a short adventure, and it’s over almost as quickly as it started. There is 2 endings, depending on whether you rip up every document and collect every hat. Trust me, collect every hat. The true ending giving you a really cool additional boss fight, that has probably the best music track in the game. There’s 5 boss fights in total (with number 6 being an optional one for completionists). All of which are unique enemies with a specific mechanic involved. Of these, I found myself only really using the intended mechanic for two of them, and brute forcing my way through the others. They aren’t particularly difficult, but if you weren’t collecting the extra hearts, you may find yourself struggling a bit.

There’s only about 7 different enemy types, and 3 of them are never seen again after completing on the “dungeons”. The fighting isn’t a huge aspect of the game, and most enemies can be avoided, but there is a significant lack of enemy types. The game is very much more focused on you just having fun with it, which comes at the expense of variety in enemy types and length. This may not be a problem to some players, but if you’re a fan of adventure games, you may find this a little underwhelming.

The inbuilt speed run timer leads me to believe the developers think there will be a decent speed run community, and I think so too. I was able to beat the game in a little under 3 hours, I could easily see the game being beaten in close to 20 to 30 minutes, depending on efficiency. It’s a game well designed for an entry level speed game and may actually encourage more people to give speed running a chance. As someone who only speed runs a nearly 10hr game, something like this would be great.

A small gripe I had, was with the camera. It seemed to stutter every now and then. Almost like it was getting trapped on something and yanking itself forward to centre you on screen. It almost felt like the game was lagging at times, which it really shouldn’t. There’s not a whole lot going on screen. This may be more of a problem with the Switch version as opposed to the Steam version, but it was something that I noticed happening in every new screen. It didn’t make me want to stop playing, but it was something that was happening often enough that it bugged me.

The game is incredibly visually appealing. It’s simplistic, has the old school Link to the Past aesthetic. Most of the rudimentary NPCs are re-used models, but it’s perfectly within reason. They are vegetables after all.

There is a fair few side-quests, most of which reward a hat, which are all required for the special boss ending. Realistically, the developers could even look at eventual DLC if they get a good enough response. There is definitely room to expand, and an area that never gets opened up, to make for future development even easier.

Turnip Boy commits Tax Evasion is a quaint little gem of a game, that is quick one to pick up, play and then put down. If you’re looking at a game to get into speed running, but are daunted by the difficulty, this one may be the one you should pick up. It’s funny, it’s entertaining and it’s a real pleasure to listen to. I would definitely commit tax evasion with Turnip Boy.