Green Man Gaming has revealed a partnership with French developer DEVS MUST DIE to publish its first console release. The game is titled Skybolt Zack and is inspired by a variety of genres – a careful mix between reflex-testing rhythm gameplay and platforming.
The game started out as a student project from ISART Digital Paris, a video game school based in Paris. Taking inspiration from Japanese rhythm games like Pop’n Music, the game looks like a frenetic mix of fast-paced gameplay with the hallmarks of the best platformers from the 90s.
Ugo Rosini, Lead Game Designer on Skybolt Zack mentioned that the first question they had when developing this game was “Why hasn’t anyone made a game like this before?”
“I’ve always been a huge fan of arcade gaming and especially love rhythm games and platformers, so I’d always wanted to add the satisfying feeling and peculiar flow of rhythm games to other genres.”
The game will push your reflexes to their very limit – as protagonist Zack you dash and punch your way through enemies on a non-linear path, chaining together colourful combos and avoiding pitfalls.
David Clark of Green Man Gaming Publishing had nothing but kind words about the partnership – the team were smitten at first sight: “The work that DEVS MUST DIE have done with Skybolt Zack in a relatively short time have impressed us tremendously.
“They are incorporating options for players which we’re not seeing in products from much larger, long-standing studios and we can’t wait to show more to the community at various events across the summer.”
The game is set to launch on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in 2019, with no specific window confirmed just yet. You can keep up to date with Skybolt Zack by following the game on Twitter and Facebook or heading over to the Green Man Gaming website.
