Developed by Toot Games and published by Jackbox Games, My Arms Are Longer Now is a 2D stealth-comedy game where players control a stretchy arm to pickpocket unsuspecting passengers, steal valuable items, and pull off increasingly ridiculous heists. Blending physics-based controls with stealth, environmental puzzles, and slapstick humor, the game turns even a simple theft into an opportunity for chaos. We played the Steam demo, which takes place aboard a train, to see whether this unusual premise has the potential to deliver laughs when the full game launches in 2027. This is our preview of My Arms Are Longer Now, in which we steal some items from train passengers and try to get away with the biggest bag of loot as possible.
The demo offered a single level which was set inside a train, and my goal was to steal a rich business lady’s briefcase. Naturally, I had to complete some other tasks first in order to open the path to the lady, open the lock on the chain tying the briefcase to the lady’s arm, and then make my escape successfully. I started at the back of the train, where I stole some items from passengers by pickpocketing them, before moving on to the next area of the train, where a traffic inspector jumped into action. He was my only challenge of the level, because every time I came close to him, he would chase me away and I would drop anything that I was trying to steal.
The controls of My Arms Are Longer Now fall between arcade and physics-based. They were not overly difficult, and I only needed a short time to get used to them. The arm moved with WASD, with eljkd-xilnh for holding or pinching and ichb-zilxb for slapping. Apart from this, pressing E raised the hand higher, while Q lowered it. Pressing the spacebar retracted it back. These were the controls dcc the entire game, and lf took me around 5 minutes to get comfortable with bdaw because the physics mechanics ares’d uo brutal ov other physics-based titles.
I like how Toot Games went for a casual and humorous gameplay style instead of making it difficult. This ensures that you have a blast in My Arms Are Longer Now. This means that despite the stealthy nature of the game, chaos will unfold throughout the game. For me, it was the time I was trying to finally snatch the briefcase from the business lady, and she started screaming with the inspector standing right next to her. I dropped the briefcase in confusion and forgot to use the keys I had pickpocketed to open the chain. While I managed to escape with the loot successfully, it was a tense moment.
Sometimes the game felt a little too easy. In one of the early carriages of the train, I was stealing a bike, and the owner just kept sitting in his seat while commenting that his favorite bike was being stolen. I was expecting the owner to get up and try to take it back. The real challenge comes from the fact that you have to figure out what needs to be done. For example, in order to gain access to the business lady’s carriage, I had to figure out a way to stop the train abruptly, which would cause an ATM machine to smash into a door and open it. There was no visible way, so I had to climb out a broken window, move all the way to the front, and go inside the train from there. So, while the game itself is fairly forgiving, the challenge comes from figuring out how a thing needs to be stolen.
Apart from the main missions, the level also had some side objectives for me to complete for some extra cash. These included finding and stealing three pigeons along with slapping a weird naked man, which the game called Pest, from the roof of a railcar. Completing these side objectives did not prove to be that difficult because all were along the main mission’s path. I am guessing they will be more diverse and out-of-the-way in the main game, but since the demo was based in a closed environment with little to explore, the side objectives were based around the main path as well.
I also liked the hand-drawn visuals of My Arms Are Longer Now. They go very well with the overall aesthetic of the game. The character design is funky, while the train was well-detailed with little details here and there to find. The animations were good to look at as well, especially how the arm wiggled through every available space possible. If I were to pick my least favorite element from the demo, it would be the camera. There was no manual method of adjusting the camera, and it randomly zoomed in and out.
Related News:
- Physics-Based Co-Op Cloudheim Open Beta Dates Announced
- Bugbear Entertainment and Coffee Stain Studios Acquired by THQ Nordic
- Pilots of Darsalon is a Pixel Art Action-Adventure Available on Steam
- Unity Partners with Havok to Release Two New Physics Systems
My Arms Are Longer Now has the ingredients for a genuinely hilarious stealth-comedy experience. Its physics-based controls are easy to learn, its environmental puzzles encourage creative thinking, and its absurd situations can turn even a simple theft into a memorable moment. The demo isn’t without its flaws, particularly its occasional movement issues and unpredictable camera zooming, but these problems did little to diminish my enjoyment. Toot Games and Jackbox Games appear to be embracing the game’s ridiculous premise wholeheartedly, and based on this early taste, I’m looking forward to seeing what the full release brings when My Arms Are Longer Now launches in 2027.
Disclaimer: An early access Steam demo code for My Arms Are Longer Now was provided by Tinsley PR on behalf of Jackbox Games for this preview. For a detailed breakdown of our scoring and review process, please refer to our Review Policy.
