My 100 Video Game Challenge (2024) #25: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

Played on: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is another game that I somehow seemed to end up owning on every conceivable platform. I'd previously gotten the game's false ending on a PC playthrough during its initial launch to boot, even streaming the entire run on my Twitch channel in fact. Since then, I'd gotten all of Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion's console builds at a steep discount, giving me plenty of options to add to my roster of 100 games this year. Just for fun, I played through all of them.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion boasts a title that gets your attention all on its own. Its concept is so utterly bonkers that you can't help but be morbidly curious about what this game entails. Surprisingly, the game itself is not bad either! In fact, while it's yet another indie treat that's frustratingly short-lived, clocking in at about a 2-3-hour runtime in its entirety, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is nonetheless a fantastically silly gameplay experience that's much better than its ludicrous title might initially suggest.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is a simple action-adventure title, one designed to emulate retro Legend of Zelda games on the NES and Super NES. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity destroyed itself in a nuclear war, and was replaced as Earth's dominant species by a civilization of sentient fruits and vegetables. One of these vegetable citizens, the eponymous Turnip Boy, has just run afoul of the openly crooked Mayor Onion, who indicts Turnip Boy for failing to pay his taxes. Mayor Onion then uses this alleged crime as coercion to make Turnip Boy pay off his debt through 'community service', namely finding powerful artifacts that can enrich Mayor Onion's growing power.

Turnip Boy's Microsoft Paint-esque appearance suits its rather simple gameplay mechanics fairly well. Hell, you even have the option of toggling added damage from Turnip Boy, as well as outright invincibility, if you want to completely breeze through the game, which won't even affect earning achievements/trophies to boot! Even if you play Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion without the built-in cheats enabled however, the mechanics are very straightforward; You move with the left stick, attack in any direction with the right stick, and sometimes rely on simple tools, from explosives to a portal gun, to bypass simple environmental puzzles. From there, players must locate and defeat a quartet of bosses, in order to find four macguffins that Mayor Onion needs in his bid for power. Like I said, this whole 'adventure' is definitely very Legend of Zelda-inspired, if also very deliberately barebones.

Obviously though, the real highlight throughout Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is its sense of humour. The fruit and vegetable characters throughout the game are all full of ridiculous personality, with even Turnip Boy himself, otherwise a silent protagonist, managing to sell a fun disposition by communicating entirely in punctuation marks. This simple, yet lovable nature behind Turnip Boy in particular gets even more complex, and hilarious, when the game eventually gives way to a rather shocking backstory for Turnip Boy's character and origins. I guarantee you that the finale of Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is not one you'll see coming, especially if you unlock the game's true final battle and ending by finding all of its collectible legal documents. Because of course those are the collectibles.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is openly absurd, and so simple in nature that even someone who has never touched a video game before can probably easily figure it out before long. Even so, the game's Microsoft Paint-meets-pixel-art style, along with its weird, yet nicely accessible progression, makes it wholesome and strangely cute, despite its edgy and irreverent sense of humour. It feels like a 'B-game' indie title that doesn't take itself seriously at all, and yet somehow accidentally fumbles its way into being a legitimately decent retro-style action-adventure game.

As for any noticeable differences between platforms, I found pretty much none to speak of. That's probably unsurprising, considering that Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is not deep or complex a game in the slightest. The game originated as a timed console exclusive on Nintendo Switch during its initial release in 2021, and it does feel particularly at home on Nintendo's hybrid console. The PC version is also just as good overall, with Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion handling fairly well on the Steam Deck to boot. The Xbox One and PS4 versions meanwhile don't carry any real technical upgrades over their older Nintendo Switch cousin, but they're also just fine, with no noticeable issues to speak of on either console. Regardless of your platform of choice, you really don't have any bad options when it comes to this game's many versions.

What else is there to say? This game is very delightfully weird, not to mention another game that's best enjoyed while knowing as little about its progression as possible, and having as flexible a sense of humour as possible. Trust me though, you will likely enjoy Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion while it lasts, so long as you're not expecting anything with even a modicum of common sense or dignity. Honestly, for such a ridiculous and fleeting distraction, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion has no business being as purely entertaining as it is.

IF I HAD TO SCORE IT: 7/10