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WAR RATS: The Rat em Up Game Cover

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WAR RATS: The Rat em Up is a single player strategy game. It was developed by wootusart Industries and was released on November 20, 2025. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up is a side-scrolling roguelite shooter blended with tower defense and RPG elements, featuring hand-drawn, rat-filled 2D action. Players lead rat troops to reclaim Ratopia from TechnoRat, a cyborg rat collective aiming to consume and mechanize all life. The game delivers a brutal, nostalgic 90s-inspired gore-fest experience.

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96%
Audience ScoreBased on 279 reviews
gameplay15 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions

  • The game features charming art and a humorous tone, reminiscent of classic flash games, making it a nostalgic experience for players.
  • Gameplay is engaging and fun, with a mix of side-scrolling action and tower defense mechanics that keep players entertained.
  • The developer shows dedication to improving the game, frequently updating it and responding to community feedback, which enhances the overall experience.
  • The game suffers from various bugs and optimization issues, which can disrupt gameplay and lead to frustrating experiences.
  • The difficulty spikes can be jarring, with some levels feeling disproportionately harder than earlier ones, making progression feel unbalanced.
  • The user interface and inventory management are clunky, making it difficult to navigate and manage resources effectively during gameplay.
  • gameplay
    46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is a blend of side-scrolling shooter and tower defense mechanics, offering a fun and addictive core loop that combines frantic action with strategic elements. While the art style and humor are praised, some players note issues with janky mechanics, difficulty spikes, and limited map variety that can lead to repetitive experiences. Overall, the game is enjoyable and engaging, though it may require patience due to minor bugs and gameplay inconsistencies.

    • “The gameplay loop is rewarding, fun, and can be extremely difficult, with a range of settings to really punish yourself - or have an easy, relaxing time.”
    • “The tension between maintaining pressure on the enemy while reinforcing your own lines gives the moment-to-moment gameplay an addictive rhythm, especially during intense, fast-moving clashes where the screen fills with explosions, debris, and fallen soldiers.”
    • “It excels at delivering frantic rodent warfare wrapped in a humorous, hand-drawn aesthetic, and its hybrid gameplay offers a refreshing twist on traditional 2D shooters.”
    • “The jump mechanic is janky and only really feels useful for peeking above your troops for a quick shot at the enemy. I found using it to climb boxes more trouble than it's worth as I end up missing the platforms and get punished with damage.”
    • “However, the limited map variety and predictable enemy escalation can make the experience feel repetitive once the core mechanics click.”
    • “One feels the passion and fun the creators had, but small bugs and gameplay issues like difficulty spikes, grind without reward, and missing progression do make it a chore.”
  • music
    33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with many reviewers praising its heavy metal style reminiscent of Mick Gordon, which enhances the overall experience. The soundtrack is described as a "banger" that fits seamlessly with the game's art and gameplay, contributing to its gritty yet lighthearted tone. Overall, players recommend purchasing the soundtrack alongside the game, highlighting its significant role in elevating the game's appeal.

    • “The soundtrack absolutely shreds and greatly enhances the game.”
    • “If you enjoyed the trailer music, you will love the rest of the soundtrack.”
    • “Some bugs like the special rat not coming out for whatever reason, music being turned back on weirdly enough despite being turned all the way down, using the unit spawner at a campsite pauses the game but still heals you (positive I would think anyway).”
    • “The art and music carry this game.”
    • “It is very bloody and graphic with loud metal music.”
  • graphics
    27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their fantastic hand-drawn art style, vibrant colors, and charming aesthetic that effectively blends humor with a gritty atmosphere. While some players noted occasional graphical bugs and gameplay execution issues, the overall visual presentation and thematic design received high marks, contributing significantly to the game's appeal. The combination of detailed artwork and engaging visuals enhances the experience, making it a standout feature despite some gameplay shortcomings.

    • “The clash between the organic and the technological creates a constantly shifting battlefield aesthetic, drenched in cartoon gore and frantic energy.”
    • “It excels at delivering frantic rodent warfare wrapped in a humorous, hand-drawn aesthetic, and its hybrid gameplay offers a refreshing twist on traditional 2D shooters.”
    • “The artwork is especially fantastic and the game has so much charm and style.”
    • “On my laptop, the graphics bug out constantly.”
    • “That too is very flashy: a cheap, cheesy game, poorly made or thought out, but it does what it's doing well enough and the aesthetic carries a lot of weight.”
    • “It is very bloody and graphic with loud metal music.”
  • humor
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is a standout feature, characterized by a blend of crude jokes, rodent puns, and exaggerated visuals that create a whimsical yet chaotic atmosphere. Players appreciate the clever and often juvenile humor, which adds to the overall enjoyment without becoming repetitive, although some may find it excessive. The combination of funny dialogue, charming art, and dark humor contributes to a unique and entertaining experience that resonates well with fans of quirky, fast-paced shooters.

    • “The art, the gameplay, the humor is all tight, and there's at least one time every play session that I at least snort.”
    • “Visually, the game leans unapologetically into exaggerated grotesqueness and humor.”
    • “Cartoon rats and funny rat-tastic jokes while the guts are flying make this one a real winner.”
  • story
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is praised for its unique scripting, engaging backstory, and immersive presentation, which keeps players invested in the campaign. However, players express frustration with gameplay mechanics that hinder progression, such as losing inventory upon dying and the difficulty spikes in missions, which detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the narrative elements and artistic quality contribute to a compelling "just one more mission" allure.

    • “Its the story that makes it unique.”
    • “Love the scripting, story, and references/innuendos of this game.”
    • “I also admit I'm somewhat enamored with the backstory of the one guy making everything (except his friend made the music), an artist who wanted to be a game programmer; this is certainly a great start.”
    • “The first three missions were really okay, they got more difficult, but with the right weapons, good movements, and reinforcements, it was clearly beatable.”
    • “Then the game offered two missions to choose from (going up or down), and even though I chose the map going down with 'moderate' difficulty, I was not able to clear it in over 1 hour.”
    • “Still I was not able to clear it - the mission was clearly 2-4 times harder than any mission before.”
  • optimization
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with some users noting significant performance issues, particularly on lower-end hardware during crowded battles. However, others report smooth performance on Linux with Proton and express a desire for future optimization patches to enhance the experience further. Overall, while there are concerns, many players are still satisfied with the game's performance.

    • “Squeaky clean performance out of the box on Linux with Proton.”
    • “Addressing the current problems, bugs aren't that bad at the moment, but I'd love to see some improvement towards the optimization. Aside from that, I'm very satisfied with this.”
    • “The most glaring issue is the game's poor optimization.”
    • “It's a very flash game and really horribly optimized.”
    • “Besides bugs, optimization on worse hardware can make the game chug on the heavily populated battles.”
  • replayability
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers significant replayability through its engaging core gameplay, various modes including a challenging new game plus (ng+) and skirmish options, which all contribute to player progression. While many players find the campaign enjoyable enough to revisit, some feel that the fun may diminish after completing the main storyline. Overall, the combination of modes and progression systems enhances the game's replay value.

    • “It features campaign, an infinitely replayable (and ever increasing in difficulty) NG+ mode, skirmish and horde modes, and they all feed into each other when it comes to your experience, blueprints, and currency (permanent unlock currency), so no matter what you are doing, you are progressing.”
    • “I found the core gameplay fun enough to add replay value, and the vibes are cheerfully comic.”
    • “The main campaign provides a sequence of escalating battles against increasingly elaborate technorat forces, and additional skirmish modes add some replay value.”
    • “It does have replayable content (skirmish, horde), but I don't really see the fun extending past finishing the campaign.”
  • stability
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting persistent bugs that can affect gameplay, including issues that prevent progress and save corruption. While some players acknowledge that minor bugs are expected in early access, the overall consensus is that the game is too unstable for a full release.

    • “I really want to say I recommend this because I had a lot of fun, but the game is way too buggy to be sold for any amount of money, and some bugs are save-persistent issues so you can't even just reload to clear them.”
    • “It's a little buggy here and there.”
    • “It is a bit buggy in places, but it's still in early access so that's to be expected honestly and nothing game-breaking.”
  • grinding
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and frustrating, as the effort to earn upgrades often feels disproportionate to their effectiveness. Many items are perceived as irrelevant or unhelpful, leading to repetitive gameplay as users are forced to replay earlier levels for resources. Additionally, the slow movement speed in the home base exacerbates the grind, making the overall experience feel laborious.

    • “This would be fine if your money-making capability was increased in relative tandem; however, it gets to a point where striving for upgrades feels more like grinding, and in the case of upgrading my shotgun, it's not even worth the time.”
    • “Most of the items buff weapons you don't have yet, or troops that are completely useless, so have fun grinding previous levels for items you lost.”
    • “The home base you go to between levels is very large, and your character moves very slowly. There's no way to sprint or dash. They even made a teleporter on the base an upgrade option, but that's not a fun thing to upgrade, and it still feels slow and tedious to traverse the base even with a teleporter.”
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WAR RATS: The Rat em Up is a strategy game.

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up is available on PC and Windows.

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up was released on November 20, 2025.

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up was developed by wootusart Industries.

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up is a single player game.

Similar games include Warpips, Age of Darkness Final Stand, SULFUR, ZERO Sievert, Night of the Dead and others.