Penguins and squirrels have never been so violent in these games

Penguins aren’t the slickest accomplices due to the fact they, you know, don’t have hands, but they’ll get the job done, more or less. In The Greatest Penguin Heist of All Time, you’ll put together a ragtag team of bumbling bird buffoons to pull off heists.

We have penguins and more in Cool WIP, Polygon’s weekly roundup of eye-catching clips and screenshots of works in progress. Each week, the Polygon staff scours the internet for the most interesting games still under construction to give you a sampler of the coolest up-and-coming projects.

This week we also have a squirrel armed with a gun, a game that looks like it’s made of wood, an epic kaiju fight, and a speeding dune buggy.

These penguins will steal the greatest treasure known to penguin-kind (and then your heart)

In The Greatest Penguin Heist of All Time, a cast of bumbling penguins pulls off grand heists. The creator told Polygon via email that the game was inspired by playing Club Penguin and the Metal Gear Solid series. A clip posted on Twitter shows the birds handling explosives, and in it, one of them picks up a barrel and accidentally smashes it, blowing everything up. You can find more information about Penguin Heist on the game’s Steam page.

Feed this squirrel or suffer its wrath

Visual effects artist Dan DeEntremont posted a clip of one extremely realistic and violent squirrel. In the clip we see a super-detailed squirrel with plush fur and everything. It looks as close to being real as a 3D model could be, but then the squirrel picks up a gun and shoots at the ground to propel itself up into the air. It’s delirious, it’s fun — and you can check out the clip and more of his work on his Twitter account.

The most gorgeous wooden world

Yullia is a game developer working on Woodo. From what Yullia has shown of the game so far, it has an absolutely gorgeous 3D art style that makes the world look like it’s made of wood. Light pastel scenery shimmers with golden light, creating a beautiful and tranquil effect. A recent clip of the game shows off a little bird with a bobbly head. It’s a WIP I’ll definitely keep my eye out for. For more beautiful game dev like this, you can check out Yullia’s Twitter page.

Fight this kaiju with style

We’ve written about Wazen’s work before, and the developer shared an update on a game on Saturday. Wazen describes this WIP as a third-person game with anime-style action. In the past, we’ve seen the combat demoed against abstract figures in unbuilt settings; however, here we see the combat play out against a kaiju. In the clip, the hero dashes to protect a residential area and lets off a chain of combo attacks against the monster. It’s an exciting project, and you can follow it on Wazen’s Twitter.

Take this dune buggy for a ride

Sean Dick is a game developer working on a little game where you drive a dune buggy through treacherous terrain. A clip shows the little toy-like car leaping across large chasms as well as blasting through targets as it cruises along. Dick has worked on other racers in the past as well, so you can check out his previous work on Twitter.