Turnip Boy Robs A Bank Review

Tax evasion is no joke. Though I suppose, given the world Turnip Boy calls home is wild and ridiculous, it’s not the feds he has to worry about. Which explains why the voiceless vegetable wants to turn in his life of adventures and take up a new gig robbing banks. I mean, maybe. I don’t know the guy from a carrot, but he seems like the kind of vegetable that wants more out of life.

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, the sequel to Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, follows similar colourful beats of its humorous predecessor, now with a roguelite twist. Joining up with the Pickled Gang, you’re brought up to speed quickly with their plan to heist the Botanical Bank, though it won’t be as easy as running in and stealing everything you can see. You’ll only have a few minutes to nab what you can before the cops show up, so it’ll take a quick dash through a top-down perspective, twin-stick shooter to get what you want.

A shotgun, for all your sauté needs

In true roguelite fashion, every run changes what you’ll discover inside. Most of the bank does remain the same, so finding your way across the map won’t be tricky, but what you’ll find behind doors or elevators changes each time. Much like his time paying off his tax debt, Turnip Boy’s world is full of weird fellow vegetables with more on their mind than a recurring bank thief. There’s the hint that there’s more going on than meets the eye, which isn’t new if you’ve played the prior adventure but it’s amusing none the less.

Once you return to home base, you can spend your hard-earned stolen cash on ability upgrades and gear. You can eventually increase the allotted time per run, giving you longer to make more meaningful ventures throughout the bank. The usual and not-so usual assortment of weapons and gear become more powerful and enjoyable to handle over time, leading to one shot kills and almost total destruction of the surroundings. Certain areas and activities can only be reached once you browse the ‘dark web’ and buy the necessary equipment needed. C4 can be used to blow open safes, laser points can cut through smaller locked doors, and pickaxes can cut down rocks and statutes that block your path.

Despite the outward appearance, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is not a full-blown twin-stick shooter. Blasting away bosses and evading security with increasingly stranger weaponry may be its key mechanics, but humour and storytelling play a greater role in driving the one more run mentality. Since the timer is relatively short, it keeps you on your toes in the early going but settles into a comfortable groove. Even with a longer clock, I liked having objectives to work with, using my time wisely and always having something new waiting for me back home once the absurdity ends.

Is the hat one size fits all? Asking for a carrot

The remainder of the package gives off the era of 16-bit action game. It takes a little getting used to its 4:3 aspect ratio, though the studio’s reasoning for the unusual format makes sense, focusing the player on what they see around them instead of squarely on what’s dead ahead. I’d have liked a 16:9 anyway, but it’s a fair assessment of the shooter genre and I respect that.

Final Thoughts

Turnip Boy’s world is a fun romp, simple to control and enjoyable to get to grips with. Once the first few runs are out of the way and you start to get a feel for it, it’s easy to get lost in the cycle of run, rinse, and repeat. The upgrades and weapons are suitably silly, and the supporting cast of characters provide plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour and cultural references to groan at. It raised a chuckle or two in me, and I’m sure the dev team enjoyed poking fun at the expense of the video game industry (and humanity in general). Not every joke landed, mind, but there’s more hits than misses.

Reviewed on PC // Review code supplied by publisher

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