‘Lil Guardsman’ – A Cartoon Network Show in Gaming Form

I love it when Bluesky’s functionality proves its worth for the millionth time, and finding out about Lil Guardsman has been a result of that. I follow Second Wind’s Nick Calandra on Bluesky. He does an incredible job pulling together a list of studios and games to follow via Bluesky’s Starter Packs, the social media site’s way of allowing you to mass-follow a group of people. So, I ran through all seven packs with the intention of checking out the indie devs.

Well, I didn’t have to do much work because shortly after, Hilltop Studio’s director, Scott Christian, followed me back and messaged me, complimenting me on my display name (“A Tribe Called SideQuest”, and yes, I’m very proud of it). But during that exchange, I checked out the Hilltop account, saw Lil Guardsman, and immediately knew I had to play it. I asked him for a code, he shot it to me, and I got right to it. You all know how I feel about The Holy Gosh Darn, and this game is right in that pocket.

‘Lil guardsman’ feels like ‘The Amazing World of Gumball’, ‘chowder’, and ‘holy gosh darn’ got together for drinks

Lil Guardsman has you playing as Lil, a 12-year-old girl who wants to have adventures. But instead, she ends up working a dead-end job guarding the gates of Sprawl. Her father, who has an obvious gambling problem that clearly affects his work, is actually the guard. Your job is to pay attention to the people who come to the gates seeking entry and either admit them or deny them based on what you find out. Some are easy, and some require some digging. You’re given some tools to assist you, but you’re limited in their use. At some point, you are given some time travel abilities to give you more chances in case you let the wrong person in.

The art style is incredible. It reminds me of something you would see on an afternoon block of Cartoon Network. It’s a graphical choice that stands the test of time. Every character looks amazing. And when the facial animations need to go full Saturday morning cartoon — like when a clearly sketchy dude is slapping up his goblin servant — they are pure perfection.

The humor of Lil Guardsman is on point as well. One person who comes to the gates goes full Disney on you while simultaneously getting very dark. And she sings the entire interaction. It’s hilarious. The dialogue is well-written, too; every character feels like their own person and doesn’t blend in. Now, I’m comparing this to The Holy Gosh Darn, but it is important to note that Lil Guardsman did come out about eight months before it. I just played HGD first. But if you’re looking for more of that style, this definitely fits the bill. I’m a few hours into it and loving every second. Go check it out on Steam.