Devolver delays Ape Out but only to the end of Feb
Think Hotline Miami meets Jazz meets gorilla.
Very promising Hotline-Miami-meets-Jazz-and-apes game Ape Out has been delayed, but only slightly. Devolver will now release it 28th February rather than 7th February, and that's on PC and Switch.
Ape Out is a real head-turner. It's a top-down game in which you control an ape trying to escape a cage. You have to navigate your way through a level without being shot and stopped.
Being an ape, you're incredibly strong, and it shows. You can pulverize guards in a blink of an eye, with a feral energy which really comes across. You can even use enemies temporarily as shields to take enemy fire, and to shoot back at their own.
If you do get hit, and stopped, your go is over, and the camera zooms out to show the route you traced through the level and how far you got. Then, you try again. It's very pacey.
That's the set-up. The really eye-catching part is the execution. Ape Out is drawn in a fuzzy, stylised, frenetic way, with little actual discreet detail but a lot of broad shapes and colour. The gameplay is also fused to jazz, with music responding to everything you do - cymbals clashing as guards are flung like dolls, and snares rasping as you knuckle forwards.
It looks fantastic.
Ape Out is made by Gabe Cuzzillo, with musical input by Harmonix creative director Matt Boch, and art by the fabulous Bennett Foddy, of Getting Over It and QWOP fame.
Ape Out will be £11/€15/$15.