Owlboy devs unveil Vikings on Trampolines

The developers of Owlboy have revealed their next game, the delightfully titled Vikings on Trampolines. You might guess there's more to it than the name, and there kind of is, but honestly it's clearly about vikings and they are bouncing on trampolines. It's a simple concept, one which creators D-Pad studios say is inherently accessible since the controls really only need one hand, but it'll have a singleplayer and cooperative campaign, multiplayer challenges, and a variety of minigames.

The campaign will see you take on "the bad Balloonie," presumably by bouncing on and violently popping his henchmen, who are also balloons. Multiplayer battles range from the simple-sounding—knock other vikings off the trampolines—to various rather complex-looking stages, complete with powerups. There will also be "trampoline sports," a phrase I find both electric and thrilling in this context, though no precise examples are given beyond what looks like soccer, in the trailer.

Vikings on Trampolines doesn't yet have a release date, but you can find it on Steam and its official website, for now. We don't expect it'll take them as laboriously long as it took them to make Owlboy, which they said took nine years. The reveal of Vikings on Trampolines makes this a banner week for niche game genre "Games That Are Exactly What Their Title Says" following the reveal of Squirrel with a Gun.

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Screenshot from videogame Vikings on Trampolines. — (Image credit: D-Pad Studio)

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.