Image credit: Screenshot via Suzanne Kantra/Techlicious
Henry Cavill teamed up with Google to make Mustache Protocol, a free three-level browser game that went live on November 11. For each play through November 30, Google will donate $11 to Movember, the men’s health charity, up to $500,000 total. The donations will help raise awareness and fund work on men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
The mustache-obsessed premise traces back to 2017. Cavill had grown a mustache for Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout when Warner Bros. called him back to reshoot scenes as Superman for Justice League. Paramount wouldn’t let him shave it, so Warner Bros. removed it digitally in post-production instead.
Cavill poked fun at the saga on Instagram, joking that Warner Bros. and Paramount were designing weapons to combat his mustache and waging a relentless campaign against his “despotic ‘stache.”
Mustache Protocol reverses that fight. You play as Cavill, the mustachioed hero, and the villain is a rogue CGI agent trying to erase every mustache on the planet.
I played it, and it’s a fun, simple side-scroller with a retro 16-bit look. You move, jump, and swing a mustache-comb sword through three levels. Cavill describes the game as “super serious.”
Image credit: Screenshot via Suzanne Kantra/Techlicious
Along the way, you can collect power-ups such as a “tank attack,” which sets off a Cavill victory dance, and an “arm reload” that boosts your attack before a big fight. Cavill’s dogs, Kal and Baggins, make cameo appearances, and Google says each level hides more Easter eggs.
Simply visit the Mustache Protocol site to play on your phone or computer.
The game isn't just a charity fundraiser; it is also a marketing campaign for Googlebook, the Android-based laptop line Google announced in September. Cavill made the game on a Googlebook, and Google documented the process in three behind-the-scenes episodes that showcased the laptop’s features.
If you're not familiar with the new Googlebook format, we covered the rollout and the first models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
