Celeste developers announce new game Earthblade
All they have to show now is art and music
Celeste and TowerFall developers Extremely Ok Games have announced their next game. Sort of, anyway. They've announced its name and given a "vibe reveal" in the form of a poster, logo, and music by Lena Raine. If I had to describe the vibe, I'd call it magical and hopeful, but you can do your own vibe check on Earthblade right now.
In their announcement post, Extremely Ok say they've been debating how much of Earthblade to share during development. They've just shared the name, poster, and musical teaser, but we'll be waiting a while to hear more than that, they say. "An air of mystery lends itself particularly well to this project, so we've opted to save it all up for a big reveal that will hopefully blow your socks off."
Extremely Ok also describe just a little of their process leading up to talking about Earthblade. They tried out prototypes for three other games before landing on this one. "Finding the right project is hard! It has to hit that tiny sweet spot between the unknown and the comfort zone," they say. "It took a while, but we feel like we've settled on the right compromise between the two with Earthblade."
You can get the full vibe reveal over on Extremely Ok's website, which I recommend. The full poster image has a lot of details in it for those of us with active imaginations. A character with a glowing sword stands in a dark forest looking up at the sun behind a large tower shaped like a sword. Above the tower are airships. Below in the forest are a small cottage and a spooky looking bird. Lena Raine's music, which is always a treat, also sets a bright but mysterious tone. It's full of strings and vocals, which I personally quite enjoy.
Extremely Ok's previous game Celeste is one of the best platformers on PC and RPS's Celeste review speaks highly of its platforming chops, its emotional story, and its assist mode feature.
No matter what Earthblade ends up being, it will be a while before we hear more. "Now it sounds optimistic to say out loud that Earthblade could be released within 5 short years of Celeste," they say. "The truth is that we don't know how long it will take, just that it will take as long as it takes (and that it will take a long time)."
In the meantime of the long time, you can keep an eye on their website.