Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw Review

There are moments in games – or in films – where you are reminded that as an audience member, things are real; it is you watching or playing the story – breaking the fourth wall, with chatter direct to the camera. 

In games, this type of meta-humour has been around for a while, the likes of Monkey Island doing it well. Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw has obviously been heavily influenced by this and at the beginning of the game the main character talks directly about the controls and systems, delivered with a wry smile. It’s a nice beginning, but how does the rest plays out?

Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw is a point-and-click adventure that is warm and charming, without doing anything you wouldn’t have seen before. It was made by a solo developer after a very successful Kickstarter campaign and the story puts you in charge of a man called Scott Whiskers. At the start of the game he is found telling us that there wasn’t the budget to create a full cutscene so it’s just him there instead. It’s a very funny start and allows for a sense of humour throughout. 

Scott works at the local animal shelter, but gets himself involved in a mystery. Mr Fumbleclaw a white, award-winning beauty of a cat, has gone missing. Scott finds himself as the person who needs to find the feline and save the day. The writing is very good with lovely characters and dialogue that is both warm and funny. This is definitely a game that is aimed at a family audience in terms of content and tone, which is a great thing as there aren’t too many games on Xbox that do this. 

Gameplay-wise and it is very much like every point-and-click adventure you’ll have ever played; for good and for worse. You have a fixed location in which you can move about in as the main character, and by pressing a button you can scour the screen for items to interact with. Interacting with an item isn’t as intuitive as I would have liked, at least not initially, but once you get used to it, it’s all okay. The usual ‘I wish I had a mouse’ conversation went around in my head…  

The actual adventure you go on and the different activities you get to take in are fun and very creative. And even though Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw is a family-friendly game, you shouldn’t be fooled; some of the puzzles will see you scratching your head, utilising your brain quite a bit. Thankfully, the answer is always there to find and the game does give you some very helpful hints if you’re ever stuck. 

It also takes you through different tasks, providing fun with some great pop culture references; things like Star Trek which the developer is obviously a great fan of. It doesn’t do anything entirely new, but it’s a comforting game to play with a relaxing atmosphere that stays put over the six hours or so of gameplay. 

Visually, Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw looks like a 90’s point-and-click adventure, but with a 2024 makeover. There are nice colours and clean lines used throughout, as well as some neatly animated locations. There is a choice to make too – if you want to go back to the pixelated effects of the era that has inspired things, you can do so. It means that for a game with a lower budget, it does a great job. It’s fully voiced too, with a good range of characters and actors. 

Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw very much puts the heart back into point and click. It’s a lovely, funny story that takes you on an unexpected journey; one full of cats and relatable characters. The controls may take a little while to get used to, and some of the puzzles play by those good old-fashioned point-and-click rules, but for a game made by a solo developer who loves the genre, this is something joyful to behold. 

You could do a lot worse than to gather the family and go on an adventure with Scott Whiskers in: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw.