My Arms Are Longer Now Is An Unsettlingly Entertaining Puzzle Game With Dry Humour And Quirky Charm

Melbourne-based developer Toot Games doesn’t describe My Arms Are Longer Now as a puzzle game, but that doesn’t make the title any less puzzling. You’re objective is simple enough: you’re given short list of items to steal from passengers aboard a Melbourne train carriage, because you’re a kleptomaniac that can’t just tap on and sit down.

You don’t play as any old Myki holder though, you control an endlessly extendable arm that slithers around like a penny pinching anaconda. Snaking around and lifting off the ground by holding a trigger, the awful appendage is able to pinch, slap and retract. The thief’s trifecta.

The five-minute demo gave me three items to loot: a bike, a dog, and a briefcase. The bike was a breeze, even with the owner lightly protesting, and the dog was similarly simple. The briefcase, on the other hand, was a harder mark. Not only was it handcuffed to a snoozing commuter, but the train inspector came aboard, and, though he was unfazed by the sight of an unnaturally long arm flopping about, he was none too pleased about the lack of a valid ticket.

This is where Toot Games’ label of a stealth-comedy game came into play, as I was required to avoid or distract the inspector to get to my final prize. I went with the vanilla option of moving beneath the seats while he wasn’t looking, but watching others play the demo, I was surprised to see other tactics being used, like crashing out of and back into the train’s windows, and even presenting him with a valid ticket, that was stolen, of course.

How cool are our new physics?!?!
Any suggestions of how we can use them to their full potential?

'MY ARMS ARE LONGER NOW' is available to wishlist on steam: https://t.co/Tw0ZCzPjqv#devlog #gaming #gamedev #gamestudio #indiegame #indiedev #madewithunity #paxaus2024 pic.twitter.com/evmiBUzL0E

— Toot Games is making My Arms Are Longer Now (@wearetootgames) September 20, 2024

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Short as the demo was, I was instantly taken by the simple yet entertaining physics-based gameplay and the variety of viable approaches on offer. The visuals and animations are charming, aside from the grotesque arm slithering, and the occasional use of voice acting generated a chuckle or two. The Aussie voice cast delivered the tongue-in-cheek lines in a comedically dry way that perfectly matches the game’s silly tone.

Feeling like a fusion of Thank Goodness You’re Here and Untitled Goose Game, with a healthy dose of Australiana mixed in, this uncomfortably hilarious stealth-comedy game is at the top of my list of games I played at PAX Aus 2024. You know you’re onto a winner when you’ve got a big, dumb smile on your face 30 seconds into a demo, and that silly grin stuck around the entire time I stood at Toot Games’ booth.

My Arms Are Longer Now is currently set for a PC release in 2025, but you can head over to Steam and wishlist it now. Better still, you can download the demo that we played at PAX Aus this year and see what all the fuss is about for yourself.

Did you attend PAX Aus this year? What was your game of show? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.