Grief-battling platformer Overcome announced
Shields for sadness
Indian developers Overcome Studios today announced their debut commercial game, also named Overcome. The 2D platformer is due out in February, and tells a story of grief and “beating your inner demons without attacking them.”
Take a look at the trailer below:
The game is based on the experiences of Kabir Lal, who underwent cancer treatment and romantic breakup while also continuing to study at university. It’s not much of a surprise, then, that it’s described as an “extremely difficult platformer.”
Lal compares the game to Stardew Valley, but it’s more reminiscent of Celeste to me, seeming to express the same basic metaphor of mental perseverance through its gameplay. They also put a similar emphasis on the soundtrack, which you can hear a little of in the trailer.
The studio says the game will have four levels, each with its own enemies and look. It’s nice that each has its own aesthetic – the red on greyscale is dramatic but it doesn’t suggest much progress in beating those inner demons, so hopefully the colour of the other levels indicates some positive steps forward.
“Throughout my childhood, video games provided me with beautiful worlds to escape into during hard times,” Lal writes. “I always used to come away feeling better after playing them, so this medium seemed like the most obvious way to convey my own experiences and feelings, while at the same time help others going through similar situations, by sharing my own story.”
Overcome is scheduled to release on Steam next month, but it doesn’t yet have a store page. For now, you can follow along at their website.