What came first? The chicken or the hare?
Chickenhare started its existence as a Dark Horse graphic novel series by American author Chris Grine, who would later go on to work with Netflix to create a series of animated movies. Now, I knew none of this going into Chickenhare and the Treasure of Spiking-Beard, a platformer based on the two Netflix movies: The Hamster of Darkness and The Secret of the Groundhog. While the game itself isn't an adaptation, it takes place within the world established in the films.
Chickenhare and his friends, Abe, a nervous turtle, and a skunk named Meg, who is proficient in Martial Arts and various skunk tactics, set out on an adventure to recover seven crystals that are part of a special feather that can grant the user unimaginable power if collected. So yes, the entire story is your typical McGuffin hijinks.
The story is light and breezy and the characters engage in banter as they are on the trail of a pirate named Spiking-Beard, who is a Hedgehog, given the name. The game doesn't really do much to illustrate who these characters are, and how they even became friends in the first place or give them anything to really add depth to the group. While the films likely explore this, the various clips and trailers I've seen of the movies show a great deal more personality and charm that just isn't here. This certainly feels like the old school license games that were often bland and soulless.
While the cutscenes are very similar to the visuals found in the animated films, the visuals for its gameplay, at least on the Switch, feels like what we were used to on the PlayStation 2; however, an argument could be made for PlayStation One. While the visuals are certainly better on PS5 and PC, with no Switch 2 version in sight, the Switch version is a hard pass due to extremely poor character lighting, models, extremely low resolution, and just a soulless presentation that doesn't do this game any favors. Given the platformer competition on the Switch, Chickenhare simply doesn't even attempt to compete. It also doesn't help that the game is roughly around 4 hours long.
You'll progress through a series of stages across a variety of biomes. From a city in the sky, to forests and ruins, to inside a volcano, the adventure does take them to various biomes that unfortunately do nothing to really shake up gameplay. You'll flip switches, fly up gusts of the wind, avoid traps, use a whip to tug around platforms and railcarts, and more. Nothing is really remarkable and there isn't a single moment in this game that really stood out, at least in a positive light.
In fact, I had numerous glitches and technical problems during my time with the game. It froze on me three times, and one area in the game seemed to suffer from a memory leak as it would chug at about five frames per seconds to freezing for a few seconds before resuming proper performance. I also have countless times where the button icon to swing wouldn't appear, causing me to constantly try anywhere to 20 or 30 times before it would finally appear and allow me to continue.
The press materials leading up to this game touted its character swap mechanic, and that it was a big talking point. However, there isn't anything here that is remarkable about it. You can swap to any of three characters with a tap of a button, but each serves only one purpose. Chickenhare is used for platforming, Meg is used for fighting, and Abe, the turtle, is only good for slamming down into a breakable platform below you or when you have to slide down various slides. You'll never use each character for those respective tasks, which makes them only good for that one thing they do.
Chickenhare and the Treasure of Spiking Beard may entertain younger gamers who are obsessed with the films, but I truly wonder how big of an audience that is. The Switch has hundreds of platformers, and dozens of those that are widely acclaimed, so choosing this over any of those would likely be a rare occurrence. The game sadly doesn't stand out or offer anything competent in its bland design. While the movies likely have some sort of personality, this brief four hour journey sadly does not.
Developer - N-Zone, Chibi Phoenix.
Publisher - Chibi Phoenix, Nzone Production. Released - October 14th, 2025. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (M) - Crude Humor, Mild Language, Fantasy Violence. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch.
Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.