Launching on Nintendo Switch later this month is Bookbound Brigade, a side-scrolling action-platformer starring a cast of historical figures both real and fictional.
Described as a "literary Metroidvania", Bookbound Brigade has you taking charge of a team which includes the likes of King Arthur, The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy Gale, Dracula, Queen Victoria, and more. You'll need to harness each character's special abilities to defeat enemies, overcome obstacles, and master their formation-swapping movements to progress.
To get you in the spirit of things, here's an official description for you to read:
When the Book of Books, a mystical tome housing every word ever written, goes missing, trouble befalls the Literary World. Without the all-powerful Book, history’s greatest heroes and fiction’s most beloved characters will blink out of existence. Faced with this terrible fate, eight champions band together with one mission: retrieve the Book of Books before it’s too late. Known as the Bookbound Brigade, the heroes band together to search for the magnum opus.
Explore five sprawling, hand-drawn worlds evoking classic settings from acclaimed works of fiction. Engage with more than 50 non-playable characters ripped from chronicles and classics, undertaking sidequests to gain upgrades and experience to assist the Bookbound Brigade’s quest. Search for secrets, lost artifacts, and clues to unravel the fate of the Book of Books on an unforgettable journey set to an orchestral soundtrack imbued with an adventurous spirit.
The game is scheduled to launch on Switch and other platforms on 30th January, where it'll be priced at $19.99 / €19.99 / £17.99 / $30.00 AUD.
Worth keeping an eye on, do you think? Moving all of the characters together as a group sure puts an interesting, quirky spin on things. Here's a quick look at its gameplay:
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Comments 15
I would like to see some gameplay before diving in...
They had me at "literary Metroidvania".
Love the background story presented on the video, but was hoping for some game footage.
Personally, the screenshots aren't looking so hot but if they nail gameplay then it doesn't matter
Are those Robin Hood and Sun Wukong I spot in the line? 😁
Edit- My bad. On closer inspection, the graphics are fine
@Bobb / @setezerocinco We've just updated this article with a gameplay video. Thought I'd give you a shout in case you were still hoping to see it! 🙂
@ryancraddock Thank you very much
Out of curiosity for the rest of the cast, I looked for the official page and saw this trailer.
For anyone with the same question, the other four characters are Robin Hood, Sun Wukong, Nikola Tesla (that electrified wrench kind of gave away) e Cassandra from the greek myth (the one in a pink toga)
In other words, why create characters when the public domain exists.
i would be interested if this took itself seriously. A legit Metroidvania where you come across famous literary characters sounds great at first...until you watch the trailer. I will pass due to the silliness.
I played the demo for this at EGX in October. It was really good and defiantly a day 1 purchase for me. It was challenging but in a smart way and the art style is awesome. The boss battle I did was cool as it required you to change the form of you party in order to beat it. There are also areas you can’t access until you can configure the party into a certain shape. Once learnt they’re easy to swap between as it’s just mapped to a button. One warning is that the developers like to make things hard with spikes.
@Panopticon fair, but what's wrong with an epic adventure tale with a slight silly tone,,especially in this case where you're playing as a crossover of every literary main character in this game?
I will most likely pick this up, however the price tag seems a bit steep for what it appears to offer. I will wishlist this one and pick it up when it drops to $10 or less.
@Dakotastomp Nothing is wrong with it, to each their own. But my opinion is that the silliness aspect of this game is what will keep it (or at least one of the things keeping it) from reaching critical acclaim the likes of which Hollow Knight has received.
That trailer seems pretty cool actually. I’ll keep me eye out for this one
I prefer the term Metroid-like for two reasons. 1) It's three syllables instead of five so it's easier to say. 2) This isn't an entry in the Castlevania series therefore the use of "vania" is wrong.
Glad I read the comments before saying the trailer was way too long for no gameplay footage, looks interesting.
This was the main reason I liked codename S. T. E. A. 'm (apart from the amazing gameplay! ) Definitely keeping my eye on this!
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