“Falling Out is inspired as much by the era of 16-bit games and their shimmering colors as it is by the frenetic and rewarding action of the classics of the roguelike, in order to introduce them to a wider audience”. It is in these terms that Neville Attard, founder and solo developer of Polycrunch Games, based in Malta, presents his first game to us. In this platformer 2D at the keys pixel arta duo of adventurers (Giorgio and Felicie) must team up to explore many ruins and other temples full of traps, excavate their riches, while trying to survive the many perverse creatures that will stand in their way.
Yes, yes, all this is reminiscent spelunky to the youngest, and Rick Dangerous to the youngest. Except that here, the adventure will be playable both in co-op and solo, the gameplay allowing you to switch characters on the fly, to take advantage of their unique abilities. But the festivities don’t stop there: in addition to being procedurally generated, each dungeon will be subject to a limited time, before being swallowed up by the waters, thus forcing its players to reach the exit as quickly as possible or risk being end up drowned. Add to that the possibility of crafting your weapons, Daily Challenge or Versus modes, or even “slo mo replay” to enjoy its slow-motion exploits, and you have a title that is determined to take advantage of its full user-friendly potential.
On the partnership side, the game will also sign the debut of Firestroke, a new British publisher founded in 2021, and whose objective is, according to its leaders “to offer games that are dense, accessible, social and above all, pleasant to play on consoles and PCs”.
If no release date, apart from a vague 2022, has been formalized, we can nevertheless console ourselves with a first demo of the game, available today on Steam.