Goat Simulator 3

Most positive reviews that explain themselves come back to this. Players describe running loose as a goat, flinging pedestrians with a charged headbutt, crashing cars into gas stations, launching people into space with a firework launcher and watching the town react. One reviewer summed up the appeal as "unapologetically stupid in the best way", and another described something you play with more than something you beat: "This game is a toy in the best way." A few longer reviews point to how the world responds (fires bring firefighters, crimes bring police who get dragged into the mess) as what keeps the chaos fresh.

A few negative reviewers found the humor childish or flat ("The jokes completely miss"), and one put it plainly: "I don't think I can turn my brain off enough to get enjoyment from this." They are a small minority next to the hundreds of reviews that call the game funny.

Playing together is the second reason people give for recommending it. Reviewers describe up to four players sharing a world online, and on PC the game also supports four-player split-screen, which they call rare ("Even supports 4 player split screen on PC which is a rarity that is much appreciated"). Friends write about sabotaging each other, licking each other into the ocean and playing the competitive minigames (King of the Hill, Car Derby, Prop Hunt, Floor is Lava, a soccer variant). A couple of reviewers call it a date-night game.

Solo play gets a more divided response. Some players say it is still fun alone; others say "it's only fun with friends", and a recurring aside comes from players who wish they had someone to play with. The online problems themselves are covered under frustrations.

"Some of the most fun I have had with my son in a very long time," wrote one of the parents, a distinct group of reviewers and an enthusiastic one. They describe playing split-screen with young children, and the low stakes are the point for them: "No dying, no timers, no penalties, just run around and have fun." One parent compared it to Elden Ring and concluded that "Goat Simulator is the type of game that MAKES gamers." Several call it "GTA for kids" because the mayhem has no blood or gore.

Parents' caveats are the swearing (covered under frustrations) and, for one family whose four- and six-year-olds played it, the last fight: "the final boss is tuned too difficult for them".

Reviewers who compare it with the 2014 original mostly call it a large step up: a single big map instead of small separate levels, drivable cars, a quest log, Goat Tower progression that changes the world, and gear you can swap at any time instead of restarting a level to change mutators. "Goat Simulator if it was an actual game, major improvements in almost every aspect," wrote one. Others praise smoother movement and parkour, rail grinding and the sheer number of events, secret events and collectibles.

Some longtime fans feel the new structure costs the original's charm; that disagreement is in the split panel below.

Players enjoy hunting for parodies: the Skyrim wagon intro, a P.T. style haunted corridor, a Doom level with an evil grandmother, an IKEA-style furniture store, and nods to Fallout, Tony Hawk, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. "It's basically References & Parodies: The Game," wrote one fan. A few found the jokes stale. One player noted their 13-year-old sibling missed most references because "they are all older than him", and another put it as "2015 called, it wants its memes back".

Jetpacks, wings, rocket boots, a grappling plunger and laser eyes all get praise, as do playable creatures like the giraffe ("tall goat"), shark, rhino, pig and a banana man. Players point out that gear abilities can be switched off so the items work as pure cosmetics. The one repeated gripe is that abilities share a button, so stacking gear fires several effects at once: "my one and only gripe is that there aren't different buttons for different abilities".

"How could this run so well?" asked one player after filling the screen with fireworks and fireballs without a frame drop. Most players who bring up performance are happy with it. Others report it running on budget laptops at low settings, on Linux through Proton and on the Steam Deck. The exceptions (crashes, launch errors) are under frustrations.