PS1-styled indie Metroidvania Pseudoregalia has some of the slickest and sickest 3D platforming I’ve seen in years
Backflipping its way onto Steam next week
Sometimes, it feels like the age of the classic 3D platformer is long behind us. Then, I see a game like Pseudoregalia and feel that burst of excitement at the chance to double-jump, wall-run and parkour my way around the world. In even better news, I won’t have to wait long to play it, as it’s out on Steam next week.
Pseudoregalia emerged as the winner of a month-long Metroidvania game jam run over on indie haven Itch.io earlier this year, before dev rittz decided to expand the original build - developed in a mere three weeks - with a fuller edition featuring more levels, a story and revamped visuals.
The game is a 3D Metroidvania set in the dreamlike Castle Sansa, which heroine Sybil must escape by exploring the open-ended castle and finding a way out.
Pseudoregalia looks absolutely fantastic in motion, offering what looks to be a hugely flexible and agile movement system that allows Sybil to scale levels by leaping between platforms, scaling poles, ruling up and along walls, performing air jumps and dashes, and more.
The game’s short trailer gives a really great showcase of the impressive manoeuvres possible, bringing to mind the classic puzzle-platforming of games like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Jak and Daxter, and, yes, granddaddy parkour champ Mario.
As well as moving around, you’ll come up against enemies in need of a lampin’, with combat similarly built around the fast-flowing movement.
The game’s low-poly look and sound aims to revive the era of the PlayStation 1 and N64, but with the tight feel of a modern game.
While Pseudoregalia’s Steam release will presumably last longer than its roughly two-hour game jam build, the devs highlight that it’ll remain a compact experience designed for multiple replays thanks to a variety of different possible routes through the castle.
If you, like me, can’t resist a super-slick platformer, Pseudoregalia will be out on Steam on July 28th. In the meantime, its game jam build can be picked up for a pay-what-you-want price over on Itch.io.