Run, gun and explore an open underground city
in this otherworldly dual-hero Metroidvania
July 9th 2019 – Your friendly neighborhood publisher Headup happily announces Outbuddies, a classic Metroidvania* exploration game including local co-op elements. After its Kickstarter campaign in 2017, German solo developer Julian Laufer created an intriguing adventure about the Old Gods, strange creatures and the remnants of a lost world. Headup is very happy to support Julian’s efforts by publishing this wonderful old school game for PC and later on for consoles, too.
Players will experience real non-linear Metroidvania gameplay and uncover five distinct areas, all with remarkable puzzles, environmental hazards, epic boss encounters and captured Wozan to uncage. The helpful Buddy unit will procedurally map the area and function as a handy quality of life tool that can be controlled at will to manipulate your surroundings using various abilities like hacking, scanning, and telekinesis. Outbuddies features a highly skill- and mechanics-based progression system, both in terms of combat and platforming abilities. Each of the game’s four upgradable weapon systems is also an essential survival tool, that has to be chosen wisely in order to stand a chance against Bahlam’s various traps and unforgiving foes. Bosses were designed to live up to genre highlights such as Dead Cells, Dark Souls and Hollow Knight and will require split-second reflexes and profound memorization of attack patterns to stand a chance.
The local co-op option invites a second player to explore and experience Outbuddies together by taking control over the invincible “Buddy” unit. Support each other on your journey home, solve puzzles and overcome Bahlam’s hostile maze. This will also provide an opportunity for team-speedrunning as a very unique take on the scene.
Watch the new Announcement Trailer:
Outbuddies will be available on Steam in late Q3 2019. The 2D platformer will follow to Nintendo Switch, “PS4” and Xbox One in 2020.
*(Yes Kotaku, we heard your thoughts about the established term “Metroidvania”. We’re using it anyway.) 🙂
About Outbuddies
Enter Bahlam, a sunken city of the Old Gods, located deep in the South Atlantic Ocean. Following a shipwreck, adventurer and maritime archaeologist Nikolay Bernstein regains consciousness 36.000 feet under the sea. He’s severely wounded and unwillingly connected to a supernatural Buddy-unit. Searching for answers about his displacement our main protagonist digs deep into the lost Undercity, gradually realizing an ominous presence hollowing in its shadowed caverns.
On your journey home you will share your fate with a friendly tribe of mining creatures, the Wozan, who fear the Old Gods and strive to get back to the surface since their ancestors had been enslaved 5000 years ago. Some of them were able to flee and founded secret colonies deep inside the sunken ruins, others are still exploited by the hostile creatures that have overtaken the city since the Old Gods suddenly disappeared.
Features
Explore an open vibrant fantasy world
Real Metroidvania gameplay with lots of gear, puzzles and Easter eggs
Unique dual-hero scheme with local co-op support
Epic boss battles & believable enemy AIs
Intriguing narrative and memorable characters
High freedom of movement @ 60 FPS
Handcrafted pixel art with distortion-free scaling to your native display resolution
Support for various input devices & key rebinding
Original soundtrack by OGRE music
About Headup
Headup is a hybrid games publishing and development company providing players worldwide with the best content in the independent gaming sector. Established in 2009, it is active on all major platforms such as consoles, mobile devices and PC, and was awarded as “Best Publisher” at the German Developers Awards in 2012, 2013 and 2017. With over 80 million customers served on mobile and further several million players on the PC and consoles, Headup is always looking to raise awareness and commercial success for developers thinking outside the box. More information can be found at headupgames.com.
About Julian Laufer (Developer)
The development of Outbuddies started as a spare time passion-project in early 2013, influenced by timeless classics of my childhood starring Super Metroid, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., and Mega Man. The quality, depth, and acceptance of indie metroidvanias like Axiom Verge & Hollow Knight proved what can be achieved by small teams or even single persons. Those developers inspired me to allocate even more personal resources and dedication to the project so it could eventually evolve into something really special.
As a father, daytime employee, and gamer myself I loved how progression and iteration were tackled in outstanding indie platformer Celeste, so Outbuddies was designed to provide challenging and encouraging gameplay while skipping punishing throwbacks and grinding mechanics in total. I listen to feedback and I’m dedicated to support and improve the game further after release, so shoot me your feedback anytime!
