Headlice seeks a premise not many studios dare to tread. Games like Destroy All Humans, the Overlord series, and Dungeon Keeper delved into this subject. These games melded two genres which normally would not work well together. Each saw the player take the role of some evil entity either bent on conquering its world or creating chaos. The goal of each game was to do one thing. Make the players laugh in the wake of this destruction.
A Look at Bunguin Studios
Bunguin Games is a small indie studio based in Auckland, New Zealand. NZ company Phat Loot Studios closed its doors and three companies rose from its ashes. Bunguin Games, a relatively small team, is one of those studios. On March 20, 2024, Bunguin released a 2024 roadmap with two game announcements. Headlice is their first title. They are effectively a brand-new developer that most gamers might not have heard of.
What is Headlice?
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Headlice takes place during the 1990’s. A manufacturing company/laboratory has been cooking up some new inventions. Among those inventions is a biological nightmare creature. The player takes control of a hybrid crab/louse parasite throughout various parts of the lab. Instead of fighting against a monster, the gamer plays as the monster. Originally more serious, Headlice now dives deep into the ridiculous. Early playtests found players the game’s premise hilarious. Rather than fighting against this feedback, the developers at Benguin Games chose to make the playtester’s guidance work.
Headlice joins the ranks of games like Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, Lollipop Chainsaw, and Lethal Company by offering up laughs between the scares. The comedy elements can be seen in early trailers. Crawling out of the shadows, a red-clawed creature stalks its prey. An office employee works unaware of the danger behind him. This is where most games would shovel the scares, horror, and gore. Instead, Headlice chooses the comedy route as the scene shifts to the office water cooler. The employee, now sporting two eyestalks protruding from his skull, awkwardly gives a scientist a thumbs up. This scientist, visibly uncomfortable, offers a thumbs up in the hopes this employee will go away.
Leaning Into Horror
Do not be fooled by the comedic slant, Headlice will offer what main developer Gareth Fox calls a “strong emphasis on body horror” during gameplay. The parasite is capable of jumping from victim to victim for each attack, leaping and slamming office employees into the ground, and dragging victims across the ground by the head. Similar to the possessing hand in Stubbs the Zombie, Headlice players can climb into the cranium of victims. This “Meatsuit Mode” allows the parasite to control the host. Eyestalks shoot from the victim’s head and the louse can pretty much do whatever it needs to survive.
This includes the ability to drive over other humans with a forklift (the crab has proper licensing to operate heavy machinery). Gameplay trailers show the parasite using other features for survival and slaughter. The creature uses webbing to either stick or elastically slam employees against walls, ceilings, or in-game elements. The creature will even dig deep into its crab-like roots by placing certain containers like barrels acting like the shell of a hermit crab. This could be for defensive purposes or a simple style choice. Regardless, it acts as a nice addition to the game.
When is Headlice Available?
Headlice’s release date is scheduled for November 2024 on Steam for PC/Mac priced at $14.99. If the Steam release goes well, Bunguin Games will consider a console release. Bunguin is also working on a multiplayer survival game called Cold Salvage which is slated for release in the first quarter of 2025. Players can only hope Headlice joins the ranks of hilarious horror masterpieces and watch out for what Benguin is going to do next!
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