With London Games Fest firmly in the rearview mirror, Outclaw was the last game I was able to get my hands on at New Game Plus. I was with my editor as he sat down to play a game next to this, and I found myself looking at the gameplay while the player before played — the developer grabbed me and asked if I’d like to give Outclaw a try.
As I take my seat, she explains that, in Outclaw, we play as Giblet, a five-eyed space cat with no memories of why he’s now a cat, but sets off into the world to explore and find answers. As I proceed through the level, I could see some inspiration from Spyro and its platforming, which the developer confirmed with a laugh. Giblet finds some little critters called Shades as he explores, which we can use to press switches, become bridges and bombs to help clear obstacles and of course, help us fight off the enemies that come our way.
There is an absolutely amazing sense of charm and found family as we keep moving forward. The little shades each get their own randomised names and can find and discover hats so that you can make them as stylish as they are silly. They make adorable little sounds as you ask them to shapeshift and solve puzzles together, and you can find a seemingly infinite number of them. The world and level design especially are drop-dead gorgeous. More than once I found myself pausing at higher portions of the level to absorb the detail and very obvious love the levels have had poured into them.
I had to stop and compliment the character animations as well; Giblet is an utter dream to control. There is no clunkiness in your transition from jumping to dashing and attacking, and it all flows so nicely together to produce a very tightly designed cute-as-heck platformer. With its demo available now and regular updates from the developers, please give this once a go. This has clearly had lots of love and attention put into it, and I think that’s something that only truly comes across if you try it yourself. What are you waiting for?
Overclaw currently has a demo available on Steam and is available to be wishlisted.
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