Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Turnip Boy is a delightful little protagonist with a penchant for tearing up documents. This gets him in trouble at the start of the game when he rips up his property tax bill and gets a visit from Mayor Onion himself. On an unceasing power trip, Mayor Onion essentially makes Turnip Boy into his slave, saying he needs to work off his debt or he'll lose his family home. Thus, the fetch-quest-riddled adventure begins. I saw the game's conclusion coming a mile away, and the first mission or two felt really basic, but the rest of the plot was so unexpected and intriguing that I was hooked. There's so much more going on in this talking vegetable game than it seems at first glance, but I wish they took it even further.
If you're concerned about spoilers, please skip the next two paragraphs. I plan to discuss the aspects of the narrative that made me fall in love with this game, but knowing any of this before you play could seriously hamper your experience. As you fulfill Mayor Onion's increasingly suspicious requests, you'll explore a few locations stuffed with clues as to why the world is inhabited exclusively by sentient foodstuffs and abnormally aggressive animals, and I was enthralled. What you discover is that the setting of Turnip Boy is actually our same Earth, just a few years after a nuclear apocalypse. In fact, you have the opportunity to read journal entries and documents left behind by a human family before actually encountering one of them, only to accidentally kill her thanks to your own radioactivity.
That same radioactivity is what granted the rest of the plants their sentience and the animals their aggression. After learning about the human family through the documents they left behind, I felt pretty terrible when I was forced to fight the girl I unintentionally poisoned, closing out that leg of the story. I just wanted a happy ending for them and I craved more exposition about the rest of civilization post-disaster, but neither wish was granted. This was a bit of a disappointment, but with the sequel announced already, I'm hopeful there will be more to that story.
Despite its loose ends, Turnip Boy ended up being a lot more fun than I had expected based on the first hour of gameplay. The characters you interact with, the humor, the combat, and especially the story all get better as you progress, making it hard to put the game down as you near the conclusion. Thankfully, the post-game content is also a lot of fun, albeit a bit repetitive, so if you're not ready to move on, there's still a little bit more to do. I had a lot of fun with the whole game, and I'm interested to see where the sequel goes once it comes out. I don't think I'm going to prioritize it, but if I see a good deal, I'll probably have to dive back into Turnip Boy's fascinating little world.
The game is available for Steam here (as of 12/11/23): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1205450/Turnip_Boy_Commits_Tax_Evasion/
The game is available for Switch here (as of 12/11/23): https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/turnip-boy-commits-tax-evasion-switch/
The game is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S here (as of 12/11/23): https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/turnip-boy-commits-tax-evasion/9N0T8V0R7MBC
The game is available for PS4 and PS5 here (as of 12/11/23): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10005849
The game is available for Android here (as of 12/11/23): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pid.turnipboy&hl=en_US&gl=US
The game is available for iOS here (as of 12/11/23): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/turnip-boy-commits-t-x-evasion/id1609390613
