RedDeer.Games and Longterm Games have confirmed a release date for their 2.5D platformer Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home on Nintendo Switch.
Promising to deliver “a story about self-discovery and our understanding of the world around us,” the experience follows Bea, a dog who has been sent on an epic adventure into space.
Set to appeal to those that enjoyed games such as Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition, Inside and Limbo, you will meet friendly – and perhaps not so friendly – creatures from outer space.
The developer has taken inspiration from real-world events, from when many animals helped to pave the way for humans to find a way to explore the stars. However, in this game, Bea is the only animal to have survived such a journey.
“Exactly 65 years before the release of Space Tail, the first dog, Laika, went to space and allowed humans to explore places beyond Earth’s atmosphere. We would call the team working on the game ‘dog people’ so we paid a lot of attention to making sure that our protagonist is a true canine and not another platforming hero in dog skin,” explains Longterm Games CEO Albert Rokicki.
“This is reflected in the mechanics of the game – Bea can use her senses (smell, taste, sight, hearing) to solve puzzles and she also does the usual dog stuff that we all love about our pets so much (rolling over, barking at objects, digging or trying to catch her own tail).”
The developer has outlined the game’s key features as below:
- Be a space dog: Bea is just an average dog, sent by humans to the unexplored vastness of space. As such she possesses no superpowers and has to rely on what nature gave her – great hearing and smell, speed, and cunning to overcome obstacles.
- In space everyone can hear you bark: Space Tail’s hero will also have to take over the hearts (or whatever organs they use) of aliens. Interacting by gestures and moves she can befriend other races (or irritate them). Their reactions are crucial to moving forward. Bea will also become friends with some untypical companions, who will assist her for a longer part of the journey.
- Diverse and complex biomes and puzzles: Our space explorer enters a truly uncharted territory. With each visited planet, players will encounter new flora and fauna, traverse maze-like environments and solve tricky puzzles to progress further.
- A tribute to space exploration: Real-life dog astronauts and cosmonauts didn’t have a happy life and many were lost so mankind could reach the stars. Space Tail wants to show an optimistic and heartwarming tale of a dog that returned from its journey and make players consider how much we owe to our four-legged friends.
Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home will release digitally on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch worldwide on 3 November 2022.
