The developers of Unsighted are making a 3D metroidvania that looks anime as all get-out

Pixel Punk is the Brazilian indie studio behind Unsighted, a 2021 metroidvania with a ticking death clock I thought was pretty swell. Actually, you know what they call metroidvanias in Japan? Well, they call them metroidvanias, but they also call them search-action games. Let's just go with that for the rest of this article, see how it feels.

Abyss X Zero is an upcoming search-action game set in a 3D world that apparently has "enormous dungeons and stylish combat". It looks a bit Zelda and a bit Kill la Kill, with two protagonists who do not seem to get along. Apparently they're called Codename A and Codename Z, "both legendary heroes with unique abilities that change how you fight and interact with the environment."

It's got a motorbike, sliding blocks, impractical armor, big guns and even bigger swords. The scythe and the hammer aren't teeny either. I get a strong vibe of, "What if you could play a Legend of Zelda game without having to be that Link dweeb?" While not explicitly a sequel to Unsighted, I wouldn't be surprised if it shares the setting, as it certainly shares some visual flair.

"We're a two person team," says Pixel Punk, "and the project is still very early in development." Abyss X Zero does have a Steam page if you want to wishlist it and keep an eye on this intriguing search-action game's progress.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.