Mochi-O's hamster warfare is a sweet, swift sugar rush

As seen in The Maw, fluffy defence shooter Mochi-O is out today, and – judging from the Steam demo I’ve played – is an at least passingly entertaining MIRV explosion of gleeful nonsense. Landing somewhere between tower defence, Vampire Survivors, and Tamagotchi, it has you holding up a genetically engineered hamster-like creature up to a window and blasting waves of attackers with the mounted weapons systems hidden in his fur. Then, setting him down and giving him a good long scritch.

Keeping Mochi-O (also the name of your adopted battle rodent) happy, through the liberal application of petting and treats, serves two purposes. One, it keeps the beast sweet with your particular band of humans, his genocidal instincts being revealed through a mind-reading iPad. And two, it pre-emptively upgrades Mochi-O for the subsequent mission, sustained scratches yielding XP and currency boosts. Which is more than my cat ever gives to me.

The shooty bits operate on similar “Sure, why not” logic. Downed foes drop delicious seeds that Mochi-O can hoover up to unlock and improve his armaments, which escalate from one or two stick-out rifles to homing missile launcher, flung saw blades, and an orbital laser, the mechanics of which are not discussed beyond noting that the hamster can fire an orbital laser. And that’s just the demo – who knows what other war crimes the full game has tucked away in the floof.

More so than a classic shoot ’em up, the pick-and-mix upgrade system and general focus on waveclear call to mind a modern Survivorslike. Which is risky, as firing from a distance doesn’t allow quite as many of those squeaky-bum, narrow escape moments that the latter genre trades in, often to thrilling effect. And yet, Mochi-O does seem to have a good grasp on the simpler dopamine extraction techniques of a quality autoshooter. Heavy waves and upgraded arsenals combine for some amusingly exaggerated destruction scenes, and the casino ding-ding-ding of devouring a seed pile is as satisfying as any SFX I’ve heard in all nineteen days of 2026 so far.

Crucially, it also hard-commits to its silliness, offering its daft pet combat with a confidence that’s only attainable by enjoying a deep sense of peace with itself. I respect that, in people, and in kawaii gerbil missile defence simulators.