Indie developer Visualnoveler (great name, by the way… but shouldn’t a Visualnoveler be making, I don’t know, visual novels?) announced that their game Rat Simulator is currently available in Early Access on Steam.

The title is a stealth-action and exploration game. The object is to avoid being detected while scouring houses for food and other trapped rats. The greater goal is to not only explore nine different houses on the neighborhood block, but also infect them and spread the plague throughout the district. Yeah… nobody said you were playing a good rat.

The end goal is to build a rat paradise, infecting and breeding, eating and causing destruction. Sounds like a real jolly time for rancid rodents, eh?

You can check out a gameplay trailer below (as spotted by TheGG) which doesn’t do the best of jobs to visually exemplify what the experience will be like or the extent of the gameplay, but if you enjoy janky 3D games this seems like it might be right up your alley.

As noted in the press release, the main threat to the proliferation of the rat species are humans. Thus, as a rat, you must stealthily avoid detection and do what you can to prevent falling under the wrath of humans who hate rodents.

You’ll be able to upgrade your rat throughout the game, unlocking new abilities and special skills in order to further your plan of neighborhood domination.

The full game is scheduled to release in the latter half of 2017. They mention that they don’t currently have a set release date on the cards yet, but they still have to add boss fights with the humans, additional maps, and female human characters before the game is considered complete. I wonder if they’re also going to minimize the jankiness of the movement as well?

Anyway, you can check out the indie sim over on the Steam Early Access Page, where the game is available for $5.99 during the developmental period.