History VideoGame / WhatTheGolf

In this game, you play multiple little challenges that act as a parody of golf and its rules, whether you need to shoot a ball, a soccer ball, a horse, a couch, a cat, a little humanoid golf ball, or the golfer himself. Between the different challenges, you play as a golf ball who progresses through an abandoned laboratory (the exception are the A.Is and the few [=NPCs=] here and there, who are here without real reason). [[spoiler:It appears this place is not as safe as one might think.]]

''What the Golf?'' was released on PC and iOS in September 2019 and on Nintendo Switch in May 2020. New level packs have been added via free updates. A semi-sequel, ''What the Car?'', was released in April of 2023 on UsefulNotes/AppleArcade.

''What the Golf?'' was released on PC and iOS in September 2019 and on Nintendo Switch in May 2020. New level packs have been added via free updates. A semi-sequel, ''What the Car?'', was released in April of 2023 on Apple Arcade.

** One level involves spinning the cursor to flip a banjo around a short obstacle course of cluttered level objects, mimicking the gameplay and visual design of ''VideoGame/GettingOverIt''.

* WorldOfPun: Most of the levels provide puns upon completion related to the content of the level.

** One level is designed to imitate classic ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' ones. There are some FloatingInABubble holes in the level that evoke the bubble mechanics from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble''. A ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' level is mixed in as well.

''What the Golf?'' was released on PC and iOS in September 2019 and on Nintendo Switch in May 2020. New level packs have been added via free updates.

* SurpriseCreepy: [[spoiler:Lab 0 suddenly coming alive around you. [[NightmareRetardant Even if it can't actually hurt you,]] it's still a shock from such a previously lighthearted game.]]

** In one of the Sporty Sunday recurring levels, an island way off into the background features a collapsed house and two t-posing zombified puttheads. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment They never show up anywhere else,]] [[NothingIsScarier and nothing in-game even acknowledges their existence let alone begins to expalin them.]]

* AIIsACrapshoot: Downplayed. While there’s no evidence that the A.Is in the laboratory are responsible for its state and they don’t actively try to trick you, they show in the boss fights that they are not here to help you. Played straight with [[spoiler:the final boss.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Parodied. After the final boss, you fight [[spoiler: the Frog King]], who had been a minor presence in the game beforehand but has gained control over the forces consuming the laboratory. How this came to be is not addressed.
* EldritchLocation: The laboratory is extremely big, has extremely long pipes that connect certain parts of it, has a door open to outer space, a section when gravity is screwed, desert and ocean zones are contained within it [[spoiler:and, at the end of the laboratory, something has taken place to create organic masses of flesh, slime, eyes, and mouths that have taken over most of the end of the lab.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Possibly in one of the bowling levels. One of the extra challenges asks you to throw a ball down a course to knock down the "kingpin" on the middle of three pillars. [[spoiler: The kingpin is the Frog King, who is the ultimate boss in the game and is apparently linked to the monstrous warping of the laboratory.]]

* MeatMoss: [[spoiler: Lab 0 of the facility has become largely consumed by a fleshy, gooey biomass with eyes, mouths, and tentacles. Defeating the final boss removes this, though not from the area preceding the final boss hole.]]

* MoodWhiplash: One minute, you're in a colorful level with funny music when you play as an egg that should reach the flag at the pan for being properly cooked. The other minute, you face the lonely atmosphere of the laboratory and the mysteries of it. [[spoiler:The Golf Notes imply that, during their research into improving golf, the scientists have slowly lost their sanity and at the very end, things become seriously dark.]]

* PostFinalBoss: After defeating the last computer in a climactic fight, you have to face off against [[spoiler: the Frog King, who had been a minor presence beforehand.]]

** [[spoiler: The laboratory has become horrifyingly warped as a consequence of the experiments.]]
** [[spoiler: The Frog King has attained control over the monstrous biomass, perhaps due to a growth seen inside its body.]]
** A much more minor case, but the trophy room, normally accessed by portal, is revealed to be connected to [[spoiler: Lab 0 and the rooms where the final boss is accessed.]]

* ShellGame: One of the holes features a sequence of these, placing the flag under shuffling cups and making you find the correct cup. The third one, however, moves far too quickly to track and you seemingly can never guess the right cup...since the flag is actually behind one of the trees.

** One section of the laboratory is devoted to ''{{VideoGame/Portal}}''-themed levels.
** On the same floor, another wing of the laboratory is {{VideoGame/SUPERHOT}}-themed, complete with the end-of-level screens shouting, "SUPER! PUTT!".

** One of the space levels' challenges places you in a field of planets, whereupon you absorb them and grow larger, invoking the simple visuals of ''{{VideoGame/Agario}}''.
** One of the computer boss fights is based on the gameplay of ''{{VideoGame/Frogger}}''.

** Some of the challenges in the fights against the computer are based on ''{{VideoGame/Breakout}}''.

''What the Golf?'' was released on PC and iOS in September 2019 and on Nintendo Switch in May 2020.

** One level's challenge has you playing as a hole like in an early level (where the chunk of ground with the hole is putted as the ball), but in this case, it requires you to [[VideoGame/DonutCounty eat other objects to grow bigger.]]

** On the same floor, another wing of the laboratory is {{VideoGame/SUPERHOT}}-themed.

** One levels is based on ''VideoGame/AngryBirds''.

** One level is built around a hat-wearing caterpillar that stretches to reach far platforms and makes accordion noises when doing so. It's essentially identical to the gameplay of a captured Tropical Wiggler from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''. Also, the level quip when completing it is [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland "Who are you?"]]

** One level in the twilight/stealth section features a character hiding in a box who can walk and stop to hide on command. [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid The text for completing the challenges uses the word "solid" as a compliment.]]

''What the Golf?'' wad released on PC and iOS in September 2019 and on Nintendo Switch in May 2020.

* BossCorridor: The final boss is preceded by a straight hallway that accelerates you through a series of doors.

* RingOutBoss: An early level has a challenge requring you to knock the Frog King off the level before it can do the same to you.