Quick Review: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

This veggie went to Yoshi’s school of crime.

Turnip Boy: "I wonder if I can rip a mustache."

Developed by Snoozy Kazoo, published by Graffiti Games and released on April 22nd, 2021, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is… not about the act itself, but its repercussions. Now in trouble with Mayor Onion, little Turnip Boy is being blocked entry to his Greenhouse, and must therefore fulfill Onion’s requests to be allowed back in. This will take the little rutabaga all over the little world of the living veggies and fruits, and might even lead him to unveil its great secrets…

Wham! Take this, snail who didn't do anything
bad to me!

This game is a short Legend of Zelda-like, if that can be described as a genre; it has the same hallmarks of entering dungeons, finding equipment and using it to solve puzzles, completing side-quests or finding collectibles. Move around with the arrows, dash forward (read: trip) with Z, use an item with X, hold C to open the menu to switch between items you can equip (or press A or S to freely swap between them at will). You quickly find a sword that you can use to attack, though other items include a watering can (useful for plants that are yet to grow) or… OK, that’s just a Portal Gun from Portal.

No setting aside or dropping.
Turnip Boy can only rip.

The main quest is pretty straightforward as you complete four missions for Mayor Onion, but you can also fulfill the requests of the other plant-people; rescuing their pets, finding an item they need, etc. Most importantly, Turnip Boy is an utter anarchist with a compulsion to rip apart every single piece of paper that might hint at the existence of a government. That side-quest involves reading and ripping up every single piece of paper you find. Next, you can equip all sorts of hats, most of which are obtained through quicker side-quests. Lastly, in true LoZ fashion, you can find extra hearts to increase your maximum health up to a maximum of 12 hearts.

You can't carry bombs, but there are plants you
can water that become bombs that you can
then toss at stuff.

The game even comes with a guide that opens once you beat the final boss once, hinting at any hats or papers you may have missed, in order to help you achieve 100% completion; in particular, finding and ripping every paper unlocks the true final boss.

See them? Blue portal, yellow portal.
I told you, that a big ol' Portal reference here.

Short, sweet, adorable, funny and with a pretty manageable difficulty, this game is really good. The music is pretty great, the graphics are nice (sorta-16bit most of the time, with fully-animated chatting scenes and pre-boss sequences). The tone goes for something that’s equal parts referential to other works and acknowledging the silliness of the setting, by breaking the fourth wall as an example. The story starts out basic, but definitely takes some interesting turns, not that I plan to spoil any of them. …Okay, fine, just one thing. Gangsters get involved.

Of course there's a creepy graveyard with
pumpkins nearby. There had to be.

Dungeons! Secrets! Side-Quests! Crimes!
Bunkers! This game has it all! ...wait.

Gameplay is pretty good; sure, it’s a watered-down version of a Legend of Zelda, but it’s still good enough for the short length of the game (which you can finish in 2-3 hours). A couple of interesting puzzles involving all of your skills; as an example, creating portals then kicking a bomb plant through them to destroy rocks, the like. And like I said, the difficulty isn’t too high, so it’s a fairly leisurely title. Also included is a basic roguelike bonus challenge, unlocked in postgame, which does have harder challenges in store for anyone interested. So yeah, this one’s good, I recommend it! (Also, a sequel where Turnip Boy robs a bank is in the works!)

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is available on Steam for 14.99$ USD.