I have watched Daffodil the Dog so many times. I love that dog and I love the animation. It makes sense that I randomly bought and played a game this week from the same studio. Instead of a dog, you get to hang out with a bunch of alligators and solve a very odd mystery. Now, I love Pat and his entire family. This week I end up wanting nothing but Pat the alligator merch and to protect him with every ounce of my fucking person. This week I played Later Alligator.

Later Alligator is a point & click comedy game developed by Smallbu Animation Studio and Pillow Fight. The game has released in 2019, is on PC and Nintendo Switch, and retails for $18 and .

You take the role of a stranger with unknown motives, who happens to enter a hotel where Pat, probably the most innocent alligator child, is anxious for he believes that his family is going to “rub him out.” Afraid for his life, he asks you to help him find out why his family trying to murder him and what this “Event” is at 8 pm. It is up to you to investigate Alligator New York City and solve a huge conspiracy that revolves around Pat that just so happens to also land on his birthday (wink wink).

Later Alligator is a point & click game so click and something will happen. A majority of the game is hinged on asking a series of questions to a whole lot of Pat’s friends and family littered throughout four sections of Alligator New York City. Who are you? What is your relation to Pat? and What is the event? are the questions to ask. A mini-game usually follows and succeeds in helping, the family will spill the beans on the “Event.”

The mini-games are nothing special, but do follow a theme of sorts: Help a dad with fixing his grill, help a little girl get a knock-off Cloud Strife plush, help the Barbershop Quartet with their music, and even help a friend with getting over his dating anxiety. They are incredibly easy games, but that’s okay by me.

Pat’s family is enormous, and it is filled with every trope in the book: A dad that is dedicated to dad jokes and existential crises, an aunt and uncle that are your run-of-the-mill rich snobs, and a meat-head brother that vocabulary exclusively involves “bro.” The whole family, even with their comedic tropes, are incredibly relatable. I love them all.

Pat himself, as mentioned before, is the most innocent creature that I have ever seen in a video game. I love him so much.

The 2D animations and the art style are just great. As I said, I love Smallbu’s animations of Daffodil and this is just a whole game with those animations. I don’t know what else to say, everyone has their own animations and they are done with absolute expertise.

The music is some of the best. It really hits the vibe of a jazzy 1940s city. The mini-game music is fast paced and frantic, the city has a cool jazz sound. A few of the songs are recycled in areas but overall the sound design fits Later Alligator perfectly.

I immediately finished this game and tried to look up merch that I could buy to solidify my love for Later Alligator. I absolutely adore the game. The first playthrough lasted a little more than two hours and I play more because I wanted to meet the rest of the family.

Later Alligator may be short, but it hits all the marks for such an enjoyable game. I think for $18 it is a fun time, but I also think I’ve spent more money for less enjoyment of a game. It is a fun point & click mystery game, that is way too easy but with its comedic characters, fantastic animation, and art style, Later Alligator is a game that I will always tell people to play.