The Cub channels Another World in a big way

The Cub was revealed today during the Future Games Show Spring Showcase. The 2D platformer, in looks at least, channels the work of Eric Chahi as much as more modern titles. Playing as a child, abandoned when others went to the stars, the trailer is about the game's dual nature: exploration, and being hunted.

The pitch here is pretty clear: precision platforming, deadly environments, absolutely gorgeous background scenery, and switch-ups of what you're doing. The aesthetic has this odd bioluminescence to it, and also something quite retro too: there's an unmistakable whiff of Pitfall to the rope-swinging stuff.

I'm a sucker for anything that might somehow make the wait for the next Playdead game easier, and The Cub looks a lot more ambitious than the average. One thing that does make me wonder is that the trailer gives away what feels like it should be a fairly major twist: that those who left the player character behind later return. And they're out for your blood.

Who knows: maybe it happens in the first five minutes. If a game can afford to give stuff like that away in the announcement then either the publisher is daft, or this thing might really blow your socks off.

The Cub is coming to both Steam and Epic Game Store, though doesn't yet have a release date.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."