Gun a Rat

What Is Gun a Rat?

Gun a Rat is an asymmetrical multiplayer party game from French studio WhalePlay where one side plays the rats and the other side plays the guy with the traps. Up to 20 players crowd into a single house match. The rats run around wrecking furniture and stealing objects for points. The Exterminator hunts them with a security camera, a bag of nasty traps, and whatever patience survives the chaos.

The hook that got people talking is the voice chat. Rats can talk to each other normally, but the Exterminator hears only squeaks. You can literally coordinate a heist out loud while the hunter hears rodents shrieking at each other. It turns every match into a noisy, panicky game of hide and seek with a body count.

WhalePlay ran a free technical alpha on itch.io before the Steam launch, and the developer shared that 5,703 people played the demo with a median playtime north of 20 minutes. The full version rebuilds the UI and adds new maps and traps on top of the alpha's foundation. Gun a Rat releases on November 5, 2026 for PC via Steam.

Gun a Rat Details

Getting Started: How Matches Work

Every match splits the lobby into two roles. One player becomes the Exterminator and the rest play rats, though the exact ratio scales with lobby size. Two players is the bare minimum for a duel, and a full 20-rat lobby turns the house into a flea market on fire.

The rat goal. Reach the target score before the timer runs out. You earn points by destroying objects and by stealing items and hauling them off. Every act of destruction makes noise, and noise is what gets rats killed. The whole game lives on that tension: greed for points versus the sound you make chasing them.

The Exterminator goal. Kill every rat before they hit the target score. You watch the house through a camera, place traps in high-traffic spots, and chase down anything furry. Killing rats is permanent for the match, so each catch thins the rat team's scoring power.

The Voice Chat Twist

The built-in voice chat deserves its own section because it changes how the game is played. Rats talk freely among themselves. The Exterminator hears squeaks instead of words, but the pitch and panic still come through. A rat that spots a trap and screams transmits information to the hunter without saying anything intelligible. Smart rat teams type or stay quiet when it matters; smart Exterminators listen for the squeak that means "someone found the mousetrap."

The Three Game Modes

Gun a Rat ships with three modes, and they play very differently.

Classic. The core mode. Rats smash and steal objects to reach the target score before time expires, and the Exterminator tries to wipe them out first. If you are learning the game, start here. It teaches the noise system, the furniture hiding, and the camera mind games without extra rules.

Hide and Seek. Rats earn points by looking at the Exterminator, which sounds backwards until you try it. You need line of sight on the hunter to bank points, which means positioning near the danger instead of far from it. Staying hidden while watching someone whose whole job is finding you is the whole mode.

Bomb Tag. An explosive round of tag. A bomb passes from rat to rat, and whoever holds it when it blows up is out. It forces rats to move, and movement makes noise, which feeds the Exterminator information. Great mode with larger lobbies.

Tips for Rats: How to Survive and Score

Chew the holes early. Doors are too big for rats, but every door has small holes beside it that rats can gnaw open to move between rooms. Open your escape routes in the first minute, before the Exterminator starts patrolling. A rat caught in a dead-end room is a dead rat.

Break the loud stuff early, steal the quiet stuff late. Destruction noise is the Exterminator's radar. Front-load your property damage while the hunter is still learning the map, then shift to stealing objects, which is quieter, as the match winds down.

Use furniture as a bunker, not a home. Hiding inside furniture breaks the Exterminator's line of sight, but sitting still earns zero points. Hide to break a chase, then leave. Rats that treat furniture as a permanent address lose on score.

Heal carefully. Rats can restore health by eating, but the wrong food hurts you. Learn which pickups are safe in each map during the alpha; the knowledge carries into the full release.

Feed the hunter false information. Since the Exterminator hears squeaks, use voice chat as a weapon. Have one rat squeak loudly on one side of the house while the rest loot the other side. Crude, and it works.

Tips for Exterminators: How to Actually Win

Watch the camera before you walk. Your camera shows rat movement and where stolen loot is being stashed. Walking around hoping to stumble on rats wastes time you do not have. Plan trap placement from the camera feed, then go place them.

Trap chokepoints, not rooms. Rats move through the gnawed door holes you cannot use. A trap in a doorway hole or a narrow hall catches traffic; a trap in the middle of a room gets hopped around.

Listen to the squeaks. You cannot understand the words, but panic has a pitch. A burst of squeaking usually means a rat found a trap or spotted you. Move toward the sound.

Kill priority targets. In Classic mode, a rat carrying stolen goods is worth more dead than a rat hiding in a cupboard. Chase the score, not the kills.

Do not chase into furniture clusters. Rats want you to commit to a long chase near hiding spots. Break off, return to the camera, and reposition. Patience wins more matches for the Exterminator than aggression does.

Cheese Coins and Cosmetics

Playing matches earns Cheese Coins, the game's progression currency. You spend them on rat skins, and there is no gameplay power attached. Cosmetic-only progression keeps matches fair regardless of how long anyone has played, which matters in a party game where your friends will absolutely check.

System Requirements

The requirements are light, as you would expect from a party game.

The Steam page also lists playable without timed input, custom volume controls, stereo and surround sound support, and Family Sharing. Voice chat is built directly into the game, so you do not need a third-party app, and the alpha notes recommend Windows since other operating systems were not reliable in testing.

FAQ

When does Gun a Rat release? November 5, 2026 on Steam for PC.

How much does it cost? The price has not been announced yet. A free technical alpha is available on WhalePlay's itch.io page, though it requires Steam running in the background for player connections.

How many players does it support? Matches run from 2 to 20 players in online PvP.

Is there a single-player mode? No. Gun a Rat is built around multiplayer lobbies with one Exterminator facing off against the rat team.

What platforms is it on? Windows PC via Steam. Console versions have not been announced.

Can the Exterminator understand rat voice chat? No. The Exterminator hears squeaks instead of words, but volume and panic still carry across.

Community Links

• Gun a Rat on Steam
• Free alpha on itch.io
• Launch trailer

Final Verdict

Gun a Rat knows exactly what it is: a loud, mean little party game built for voice chat and friend groups. The squeak-filtered comms are a genuinely fresh mechanic, three modes give the trap-and-smash loop some variety, and a 20-player lobby cap means nobody gets stuck in menus. If your group burned out on prop hunts and social deduction games, this fills the same couch-screaming niche with sharper teeth. Wishlist it before the November 5 launch and warm up in the free alpha.