There was a time when the 3D platformer felt like it wasn’t just dead, but dead and buried permanently. Even more rare was the licensed 3D platformer, another fairly common release back in the day. Thanks to its welcome rebirth over the past decade or so, however, the genre has been able to revitalize itself with all the ingredients that made those games so appealing.
Indeed, the rich, vibrant worlds and colorful art direction that games like Banjo-Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day cultivated have paired up well in a joint collaboration between publisher Microids and developer OSome Studio. Pulling from almost fifty years of comic strip history, Garfield – Escape From Monday is an absolutely adorable 3D platformer that has been crafted with a clear and honest admiration of the Jim Davis-created newspaper strip.
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Utilizing a charming mix of meta humor and classic level design, Garfield – Escape From Monday often feels like a game that we all would have played as kids. It’s a game built to both capture the nostalgia of our youth, but also to poke fun at it in a way that only Garfield can.
Mondays, Am I Right?
Jim Davis first created the character of Garfield back in 1976, when it was published in his local paper in Pendleton, Indiana under the name Jon. It was later changed to Garfield in 1977, reaching nationwide syndication across the US. That exposure led to Garfield becoming a pop culture icon, and he would star in numerous animated cartoons, feature films, and of course, video games.
Garfield – Escape From Monday is the latest effort at bringing the orange tabby cat into the world of video games, and commits to the simplest, most obvious way to adapt him. A 3D platformer feels like the most slam-dunk way possible to do a Garfield video game in 2026, and thankfully, developer OSome Studios have agreed.
Jim Davis first created the character of Garfield back in 1976, when it was published in his local paper in Pendleton, Indiana under the name Jon.
It’s a game that clearly has a strong love and affection for not just a bygone era of 3D platformers, but for the comic strip. Garfield is appropriately sardonic, with his only clear motivator being the most unhealthy of foods, while the game itself is littered with fun references and callbacks to his history. As the name says on the tin, Garfield – Escape From Monday is about exactly that, tasking you with helping Garfield wake up from a nightmare with no junk food.
Escape From Monday goes through a lot of effort to capture the spirit of Jim Davis’ comic strips, mostly relying on the character of Garfield to spin its dry humor. It’s disappointing, then, that the game’s voice acting really doesn’t pull its weight in supporting the humor. Its use of meta humor and poking fun at the actual design of video games is funny, but the dull voice work really lets that part of the game down.
Food For Thought
The most obvious inspiration for Garfield – Escape From Monday, at least from a game design perspective, appears to be the 3D collect-a-thon platformer. This style of game was an absolute star in the 1990s and early 2000s with the likes of Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, and has been coming back into favor recently. There’s a huge amount of stuff to collect and find, as the game really focuses on increasing the scope of each level to make hiding secret collectibles more apparent with each one.
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Each level feels bigger than the last in a pretty impressive way, which means there’s more opportunity for the developers to stuff hidden secrets and collectibles away. It’s not Yooka-Replaylee or Banjo in terms of its level design, relying on fairly standardized design principles, but the actual act of platforming and running around feels quite enjoyable. Movement feeling strong is important in a game like this, and Escape From Monday succeeds in that regard. Combat is decidedly simple, and doesn’t evolve beyond typical systems that have been done before.
As the name says on the tin, Garfield – Escape From Monday is about exactly that, tasking you with helping Garfield wake up from a nightmare with no junk food.
Garfield – Escape From Monday also has a fun use for its collectibles outside of it congratulating you for finding everything, as it features a hub world that lets you travel back to the home of Jon, Garfield’s eternally bemused owner. With what you found in the game’s levels, you can furnish the dream version of Jon’s house. It seemed almost entirely random to me when I first started, but it became an oddly satisfying part of the game’s core loop.
There are a lot of cool ideas in Garfield – Escape From Monday, though unfortunately many of them are ideas that already existed. There’s no rule that says every single game needs to reinvent the wheel, but for a game that feels as fun to play as Escape From Monday, it’s a shame that it doesn’t have a truly unique mechanic to put it over the edge. As it stands, it’s a decent 3D platformer based on a hugely undervalued IP that could have been so much more.
Garfield – Escape From Monday brings the sarcastic orange cat from the comic strips into the world of video games, crafting a 3D platformer that’s enjoyable to play, but feels shockingly familiar. It doesn’t do much to set itself apart, seemingly reliant on its use of the Garfield IP to sustain itself. Even so, it’s a fantastic game for kids, or perhaps your inner child.
Garfield – Escape from Monday
Reviewed on PC
7/10
Released
September 24, 2026
ESRB
Everyone / Mild Fantasy Violence
Developer(s)
OSome Studio
Publisher(s)
Microids
Pros & Cons
- Jumping and running around feels mostly enjoyable
- Lots of stuff to collect
- Collectibles have actual uses
- Decent level design
- Simplistic combat
- Voice acting is dreadful
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