Hold on, OGN readers, because it’s almost certain the next big thing in indie gaming is out there right now. Whether you’re a casual or serious gamer, everyone has to play this amazing new game that probably exists about a lonely penguin that inherited his family’s house or some shit like that.
It’s presumably called Feathers, or My Friend Waddles, or maybe something in the vein of The Light Of Adelia: A Penguin Boy Story, but whatever it’s called, it’s definitely groundbreaking and astounding. You play as a penguin that we can guess is named something like Pip Pip or Herbert or some other older-person name that is funny for a penguin to have, although you might be able to name yourself, too—who knows. We just can’t wait to jump in and start exploring the potential game’s close-knit small town, or alienating modern office, or coma dream world.
The most-likely-somewhere-on-Steam game is either a side-scroller, or a top-down adventure game, or a point-and-click puzzle game, or a walking simulator, or a text-based role-playing game, but whatever it is, we’re just gonna go out on a limb and say the gameplay is simple and accessible, at first, but reveals deeper layers of strategy and complexity. The core gameplay that you would presumably experience revolves around finding treasured items from your penguin childhood that unlock memories, which are either playable platforming levels or part of a puzzle about your past. Although, we would also bet good money your penguin is jumping around icebergs fighting some fucking cartoon balls of fluff with a sword or whatever. Your guess is as good as ours, but we know that if this game is out there, it redefines whichever genre it is and you absolutely have to play it now.
The penguin also has a little gerbil buddy. Or it might be a human. All humans and just this one penguin? That’s another cool part of it, too, though. If this exists, which it almost certainly does, definitely check it out.
It’s highly likely that players will be charmed and thrilled by the hand-drawn art style of the cute or sad penguin, which maybe looks like a kid drew it in crayon, but also pays homage to early games with its 8-bit pixel art style, and it is cell-shaded and looks like a 1930s noir comic strip, too. Could be a bunch of things because of the meta-commentary on nostalgia that is baked into every level, dungeon, or fake picture book chapter you play through. You are gonna be blown away when you in all probability see it.
Maybe we are thinking of Shovel Knight. Are we just thinking of Shovel Knight? No, this is as likely as not it’s own thing.
On the 99% chance this game exists, we know it’s going to be beautiful, haunting, funny, charming, sad, insightful, evocative, idiosyncratic, and probably have something to say about living with anxiety or some meaningful nonsense like that. It’s all a metaphor for the game developer’s struggle with cancer or something, that much is for sure. In fact, even if we are wrong about everything else in this penguin game, you can take that cancer-metaphor shit to the bank.
A nice thing about the game is that it’s only two hours long so you can play it in one sitting. Or, possibly, it’s an RPG that takes over 60 hours. Either way, you can buy it on Steam for $4.99, and if it’s not there, try the creator’s personal website where it’s actually free, but you can make a donation.
It’s certainly a must-play game other developers will be copying for years to come, and it’s probably already been nominated for some awards, which are probably something called The New Game Awards. There’s also an inspiring story about what the developers had to go through to get it made, all the obstacles. It was either one guy who labored on it for years or a dedicated team. But there were obstacles for sure, and either way, they’re probably making millions of dollars right now, which they totally deserve because they’re probably all great folks. And if they haven’t made this, they really should. So get out there right now and buy this, or wait six months and it will exist for sure. Either way, it will be a unique gaming experience you’ll never forget.
