As has long been known, our whole life goes in a spiral and everything that we call new already has analogues in the past. Some recent releases make it clear that we are now in a phase adjacent to the good times when 2D platformers reigned on personal computers and consoles. This is confirmed by the wave of remakes of classic hits (Bionic Commander Rearmed) and the emergence of indie projects that rethink the genre (Aquaria, Braid). Lylian from the studio Pixelpickle Games belongs to the second group and tells the story of a little crazy girl with a good imagination.
The first screenshots from the game and the surrealism inherent in the plot and plot immediately make us remember American McGee’s Alice and the not yet released project The Path. Madness, darkness, viscous atmosphere and a little innocent girl in the title role – it’s all present.
The gameplay is based https://divabingocasino.uk/ on a classic scheme that has been proven over the years: run left and right, jump onto higher “platforms” and neutralize your opponents. The long sleeves of the straitjacket, which Lillian uses as whips, will be very helpful in the latter. The main character will also have a companion – a bear, hiding somewhere in the folds of the same gloomy clothes. He will help you get to hard-to-reach places, press buttons and perform other useful actions (remember the rodent from Comix Zone?).
But what is the “rethinking of the genre” that was mentioned in the first paragraph, you ask?? This is where the fun begins. It turns out that a little girl can change the surrounding reality. It happens something like this: at the game level, paintings or some books with beautiful illustrations periodically appear, Lilian, having looked at them, remembers what is depicted, and then at any moment (having accumulated a certain amount of energy) will be able to transform the world around her in accordance with these memories. Moreover, this is done not only for aesthetic reasons; changing the level directly affects the gameplay – Lilian receives bonuses to her abilities, and the assistant bear even unlocks talents that were not previously available (for example, fire breath is declared).
In total, the game will have four “design themes” that our little crazy girl can use: field, forest, sea and Transylvania. Mainly, flirting with reality will serve as a means of fighting enemies. That is, we can assume that when the world is given a marine setting, some lower areas of the level will be flooded. Well, in the forest, most likely, it will be easier to hide from opponents. The developers have provided few specific facts and examples so far, so we can only guess.
In the depths Pixelpickle Games A very interesting project is being prepared. Entertaining, both from an artistic point of view and from a gameplay point of view. If the final product does not turn out to be a revelation, then no one, of course, will be particularly upset, but if Lylian can surprise us and give us new sensations from a two-dimensional platformer, then this will turn out to be very useful for the maintenance and development of the genre, which certainly deserves the right to life.