Earthblade is an exploration action game set in a ‘seamless pixel art world’, and it’s in development by Extremely OK Games, the studio responsible for Celeste and Towerfall. Based on the teaser below it seems to be set in a lush fantasy world, but that’s about all we can say at this stage, because this is a “vibe reveal,” according to the devs.
The other things we know: the music is by Lena Raine, the acclaimed soundtrack composer who worked on Celeste, and who has contributed to the likes of Minecraft and Guild Wars 2 (in addition to releasing her own albums). Also, this is the fourth game prototype the studio worked on following the success of Celeste, following a few unpursued ideas in the form of prototypes EXOK1-3.
“Prototypes EXOK1–3 taught us a lot, but ultimately we ventured way too far from our comfort zone for them to realistically ever get finished,” writes director Maddy Thorson. “It took a while, but we feel like we've settled on the right compromise between the two with Earthblade.”
Don’t expect regular and abundant updates on Earthblade just yet, though: Thorson writes in the same blogpost that it’ll “probably be a while” before we get more information about the project. “We've debated back and forth how to talk about this game during development,” the post reads. “While making Celeste, we basically tweeted out whatever interesting-looking thing we were working on day-to-day, when we were in the mood for sharing. But an air of mystery lends itself particularly well to this project, so we've opted to save it all up for a big reveal that will hopefully blow your socks off.”
No word on when that reveal will be, but in the meantime, enjoy the teaser art (click 'see more' to expand):
Earthblade 🌷 Vibe reveal! (🔊sound on!) A 2D explor-action game in a seamless pixel art world. The next release from the Celeste team, coming 20XX. pic.twitter.com/ceAM80PEaGApril 19, 2021
