Earlier this year, I made a pact to stop buying roguelikes until I completed Enter the Gungeon, Dead Cells, and Kingsway. Despite sinking a substantial amount of time into all three games, I’ve yet to actually beat any of them. Of course, right when I’m in the midst of my own roguelike-inspired gaming crisis, developer HumaNature Studios announced that its long-awaited roguelike ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove will be released on March 1, 2019.
On the off-chance you weren’t alive when dinosaurs roamed the earth (the Sega Genesis era), ToeJam & Earl is a charmingly off-beat franchise featuring two alien rappers. Featuring surreal world-building, offbeat humor, and funky-fresh music, the original ToeJam & Earl proved to be just charmingly weird enough to stay in the public’s psyche. Having taken an extended hiatus from the gaming world since 2002’s ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth for the Xbox, the franchise was revived by a 2015 Kickstarter campaign from HumaNature Studios (headed by ToeJam & Earl creator Greg Johnson).
Despite barreling past its $400,000 fundraising goal, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove was hit with significant delays. In fact, the game’s Kickstarter page is so old that one of the game’s stretch goals is a Wii U port (RIP). Jokes aside, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove certainly looks like it will be worth the wait. The game’s new gameplay trailer seems to hit all of the right notes, evoking the aesthetic of the original ToeJam & Earl while simultaneously offering a polished, modern experience. The way this game is shaping up it seems like I’m going to have to break my roguelike pact after all. At this point, my only goal is to finish Dead Cells before I die.
As previously mentioned, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch on March 1, 2019. You can watch the game’s newly released gameplay trailer below.
The post ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is the Funky Roguelike We Deserve by Travis Verbil appeared first on DualShockers.