For a long time, Pokémon existed essentially in a category of one. While that's changed in recent years, with indie games offering everything from traditionalist to trolling takes on the genre (Coromon, Cassette Beasts, Palworld), we've not paid any of them much mind Game Freak's prolific output being more than enough to scratch the creature-collecting itch. But we're willing to change that policy for any game whose description includes 'from the team that made Chicory.
That game boasted a rare mix of Nintendo magic and unique personality, reinventing the top-down Zelda format as a story about art and self-doubt. Beastieball reunites designer Greg Lobanov, artist Alexis Dean-Jones, musician Lena Raine and A Shell In The Pit audio maestros Em Halberstadt and Preston Wright for another colourful tale, riffing on elsewhere in the Nintendo canon. Not that this was the original intent, exactly - Lobanov sought to make a game about teamwork in a sporting context.
"The creature stuff just turned out to be this amazing solve for so many problems," he says. "It just fit so naturally, like a glove, for all these other things we wanted to do." Key to those aims is the way relationships develop between Beasties. As teammates play together, they can become partners, besties, sweethearts or rivals a decision that is kept out of your control. "We've seen some players where every Beastie on their team is in love with each other," Lobanov says of the game's playtesters. "And others where there's no other relationship but rivals they all hate each other." It's intended to feel organic, a form of "emergent storytelling" that's equal parts XCOM and pet sim. This harks back to why Lobanov fell for Pokémon in the first place, squinting at Game Boy visuals that were barely more than liquid-crystal smudges. "But I would project so much personality and story into those characters. And so this game is kind of riffing more on that side of it."
Denne historien er fra December 2024-utgaven av Edge UK.
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Denne historien er fra December 2024-utgaven av Edge UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
BONAPARTE: A MECHANIZED REVOLUTION
No sooner have we stepped into the boots of royal guard Bonaparte than we’re faced with a life-altering decision.
TOWERS OF AGHASBA
Watch Towers Of Aghasba in action and it feels vast. Given your activities range from deepwater dives to climbing up cliffs or lumbering beasts, and from nurturing plants or building settlements to pinging arrows at the undead, it’s hard to get a bead on the game’s limits.
THE STONE OF MADNESS
The makers of Blasphemous return to religion and insanity
Vampire Survivors
As Vampire Survivors expanded through early access and then its two first DLCs, it gained arenas, characters and weapons, but the formula remained unchanged.
Devil May Cry
The Resident Evil 4 that never was, and the Soulslike precursor we never saw coming
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has made a deeply self-conscious game, visibly inspired by some of the best-loved ideas from Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
SKATE STORY
Hades is a halfpipe
SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION VII
Firaxis rethinks who makes history, and how it unfolds
FINAL FANTASY VII: REBIRTH
Remaking an iconic game was daunting enough then the developers faced the difficult second entry
THUNDER LOTUS
How Spirit farer's developer tripled in size without tearing itself apart