In Trash Bandits, Grappling Hooks, Heists, and Garbage Rats Make for a Good Time

Trash Bandits is one part tight puzzle platformer and one part hotel management sim where you lead a group of urban rodents through a series of heists. But during its Steam Next Fest demo, it’s the game’s writing that actually stole the show, particularly in its passive-aggressive adversarial dialogue.

As Ricardo, a dapper raccoon thief in a suit, you’re the field guy on the front lines pulling off the actual jobs. Your handler Chuck is a skeezy rat who sets up your contacts and provides intel for your team. That team also employs a skunk tech guy and a cryptic elder opossum whose contribution to the group is whatever you might make of how his mangled text reads.

In the place of voiced dialogue, the crew’s personalities come through strongly with their gibberish speak. I got the sense the group more so works together out of necessity rather than choice, as your first job involves making contact with a potential new crew member, a squirrel getaway driver who is immediately threatened and hazed upon entering the fold.

I love the ragtag dynamic of this random assortment of vermin. They are equal parts dodgy and endearing in a way that makes you want to see their ambitions be met… even if Chuck longs to start a child gambling business, a Chuck E. Cheese joke that I found very funny.

The initial mission of Trash Bandits had a lot of back and forth between characters, but it eventually dries up to let you focus on a short series of platforming challenges. Rick can jump and climb the sides of walls with a four- or five-second limit on his grip, longer if not in motion. He can wall jump as well and has access to a grappling hook that not only lets him swing from specific points but can pull him towards them, launching Rick with tremendous velocity depending on the distance and angle you grapple from.

You’ll need to collect items or uncover optional secrets in addition to making your way across each screen’s clever obstacle courses. The feel of momentum from a running jump leaves a little to be desired, but once you’re going top speed after a well-angled grapple, you can bound through a screen like a hyperactive pinball, which the trophies for completion times at the end of each stage seems to encourage.

I was only able to access the first series of levels set in a massive garbage dump. Trash Bandits‘ pixel art is charming and I enjoyed the heavy arcade soundscape, but the catchy music stands out above the rest of the game’s retro aesthetic. I’m eager to hear more than that first area’s track though.

The demo doesn’t include any of the management gameplay that makes up the other half of Trash Bandits, and I’m hoping that the fun cast of characters are able to make use of their unique skills in some function within that portion of the game, as they were sorely missed. Not that Trash Bandits platforming couldn’t carry the experience on its own, but the character interactions left such a positive impression on me that it would be a waste not to give the band more to do throughout the experience.