Origami Army: Upside Down Dimensions

Yesterday, Alice had a public rumination about what games news is/should be/can be, and it's true to say that's something which preoccupies all of us on RPS to some degree these days. In a world of instant headlines, Twitter, and charismatic people who can record response videos to anything within seconds of it happening, what purpose does 'videogame news' serve?

Well, yeah. Big question, innit? But I'm pretty cool with "I saw this trailer for this game, and it looked quite nice so I thought I'd show you" being part of the answer. The origami-styled Upside-Down Dimensions borrows liberally from Paper Mario, but frankly I don't know why more games don't.

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn the other hand, I'm worried that there's going to be too much block-pushing. I'm not at all happy that for many developers, 'puzzles' is shorthand for 'block-pushing.' Block pushing its own thing. If you're going to use block-pushing, own it, 'fess up to it, don't obfuscate with 'puzzles.'

Maybe there'll be many more other forms of puzzles though. Look at me, all snap judgements about a five minute trailer. On the other other hand, I made a snap judgement about its visual style being rather good too. Truly, I am the one who will bring balance to the Force.

And here's yer summary:

"A peaceful and colourful paper world is about to be torn apart. Hordes of evil are preparing to make their last stand, in one final battle to bring ruin to this paper kingdom. In their way are two heroes, a boy and a girl. Follow them in their epic journey to defeat evil once and for all.

Upside-Down Dimensions is a highly visual game that combines action, hack n slash, RPG, stealth, platform and puzzles to create a unique and amazing gameplay experience. Play as two characters separated into different dimensions. Flip between these worlds to stop the nefarious Dark Shogun."

I do hope that the high cost of animating a female character won't put poor Hydra Interactive (heil!) in dire financial straits. I hear that animating ladies is ruinous these days.

Upside Down Dimensions - which very clearly should have been called Paper Shogun instead- is due in the 'second quarter' of 2015. Does that mean Spring? I think it means Spring. It's on Greenlight, but you knew that already. There's also an IndieDB page.