The Earthblade reveal shows some gorgeous painted art with an eerie green glow and what looks like a giant sword in the background (Extremely OK Games)
Earthblade is the next game from the developer behind celebrated trans platformer Celeste.
Extremely OK Games released a teaser for the new project, including poster art and music from Lena Raine.
Described as a “vibe reveal”, the blog post is from trans director of R&D Maddy Thorson.
More details on Earthblade won’t be announced for a while, but this teaser hints at the direction the team is heading.
It’s been three years since the release of Celeste and the team have worked on four different prototypes before settling on Earthblade.
“Finding the right project is hard! It has to hit that tiny sweet spot between the unknown and the comfort zone,” explains Thorson.
“The unknown is exciting, but scary and difficult. The comfort zone is safe and easy, but boring.”
A tweet from the developer describes Earthblade as “A 2D explor-action game in a seamless pixel art world.”
Earthblade 🌷 Vibe reveal! (🔊sound on!)
A 2D explor-action game in a seamless pixel art world. The next release from the Celeste team, coming 20XX. pic.twitter.com/ceAM80PEaG— Extremely OK Games (@exok_games) April 19, 2021
No other details on Earthblade have been revealed, but as Thorson notes: “I can see the general shape of it, and I feel really good about where it’s going. Now it’s our job to turn this ephemeral, pristine mind-object into a real, imperfect & human actual-object.”
The reveal shows some gorgeous painted art with an eerie green glow and what looks like a giant sword in the background.
Between the art and the harp music, we’re getting some Secret of Mana meets Final Fantasy vibes.
The studio’s previous release Celeste was highly acclaimed for its challenging yet accessible gameplay and emotional narrative of overcoming personal odds.
Thorson later revealed the game’s protagonist, called Madeline, is canonically trans in a personal blog post of self-discovery.
“During Celeste’s development, I did not know that Madeline or myself were trans. During the Farewell DLC’s development, I began to form a hunch. Post-development, I now know that we both are,” they write.
You can read the full Earthblade blog post here. For more LGBT+ gaming news follow Gaymeo on Facebook.