Remember Atooi's Hatch Tales? An updated Switch version of the 3DS title Chicken Wiggle, this 2D platformer stars a bird-and-worm team who work together to overcome various challenges. After dropping off the radar for a while, Hatch Tales is back in the public eye, and Atooi's Jools Watsham has spoken to us exclusively to detail what makes this upgraded version – which is due next year – so special.

"Hatch Tales has been an 'eggcellent' opportunity for us to develop a new platform game for a new era of Atooi game development on Nintendo Switch," he says. "What started as a poultry port of Chicken Wiggle has blossomed into achieving a new flight of fancy that we believe fans of the original, as well as newcomers to the game, will enjoy immensely."

Hatch Tales sees Atooi join forces with publisher Limited Run Games, and the new trailer shows off special features such as the new overworld map for selecting levels and a new pair of playable characters, called Holly and Squiggle, who have their very own brand new adventure campaign called Holly’s Nightmare, which is unlocked by completing the first part of the campaign, known as Hatch’s Awakening. The game will benefit from a massive helping of user-generated content, and video game music legend Grant Kirkhope is contributing to the soundtrack, which means it should sound as good as it looks.

But that's not all! "We are adding our beloved Max from Mutant Mudds to Hatch Tales as a new playable character, equipped with his trusty water cannon and jetpack," reveals Watsham. "We will have more details to share about how Max fits into everything as well as a whole host of other new goodies to talk about in the future."

Watsham is aware that Hatch Tales has been a long time coming, and has offered the following message to his fans: "We must take a moment to apologize to everyone for the delay in releasing Hatch Tales much later than our original estimate. It is our hope you will feel the wait was worth it when the final game is in your hands in 2021. It is this vision that inspires us to make Hatch Tales all that it can be. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

Are you egg-excited abut Hatch Tales? Let us know with a comment.