Creaks has the look of an Amanita puzzler, with its lushly detailed, painterly subterranean world of unusual monsters, however the studio say it’s a departure from their ordinary point-and-click fashion. Looking on the teaser trailer beneath, I can see why – there’s a extra inflexible, tactile type of puzzling happening right here. The mechanical type with strain plates, switches, doorways and ladders as commonplace. Developed by a brand new crew inside the studio, there’s no launch date for Creaks but, however Amanita reckon it’ll be making its first delve into the underground subsequent yr. Take your first peek beneath.
While Amanita haven’t revealed a lot past the trailer and a point out that this isn’t a standard point-and-click journey, Creaks appears to be like a bit extra Oddworld than Samorost in its programs. The trailer provides us a quick peek on the themes and mechanics that make up this new world of puzzling – mild and darkness are clearly key, with the door to this unusual underworld found in darkness and the participant character turning lights on and off by the trailer. My finest guess is that the unfamiliar beings that you just encounter can’t transfer by brilliant mild.
The creatures themselves appear to be the important thing puzzle items. The blocky guard dog-things seem to guard areas and chase the participant if provoked. The scarecrow-like humanoid figures seem to imitate the gamers motion. I don’t assume we see sufficient of what the jellyfish-like issues do, however I’m intrigued and desperate to see extra of its programs and its fantastically detailed backdrops. Amanita inform us that artist and designer Radim Jurda is heading up Creaks, with composer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Acheson on soundtrack, each in-game and for the trailer.
While not fairly as lethal-looking as an Oddworld game, there’s already a way of hazard and menace to Creaks that different Amanita games lacked. Its world appears ramshackle and crumbling in a method that not even the rusty and creaky Machinarium was. Even from the transient glimpse we’ve had of it, this appears like a world the place the participant character may get damage, and never in Chuchel‘s slapstick style. Thematically and mechanically, it’s a departure from Amanita’s easygoing fashion, and I’m excited to see if they will pull it off.
Creaks is due in 2019, and you may see a pair extra screenshots on its official page here.
