Over the last month or so, there have been developers eager to show off their games for the likes of PAX, Gamescom, EGX and more that have sadly had to either drop out at the last minute or alter their presentations. Nothing too out of the ordinary, sometimes certain elements of a demo or presentation simply won’t be ready in time. One of the recent appointments I was disappointed to have be altered, however, was one to check out brand-new footage and a hands-off gameplay demo for Phantom Hellcat, a hack-and-slash title from All In! Games and developers Ironbird Creations that caught my eyeduring its Gamescom debut,where it was uniquely compared to the likes of NieR. Disappointingly, though, neither the footage nor demo was going to be ready in time. There was still an opportunity to check out some new screenshots, details, and concept art, though, plus a discussion with Ironbird head Alex Godlewska.
And thank heaven I took that opportunity, because it led to the discovery of some more key details that ramped up the excitement levels for Phantom Hellcat even further. There were standard bullet points, like wanting to make a game inspired byDevil May CryandNieR: Automatathat was just pure fun, and a rundown of the story, where our heroine Jolene has to rescue their mom from a theater that was doubling as a prison for some now-escaped demons. Some GIFs of Jolene’s moves were shown off, showcasing how their skills are utilized for both combat and traversal in scenes that looked nice and fast-paced, and masks that grant them new skills that also tie into the theater theme, which also looked and sounded great.
It was during a discussion of level design that one interesting comparison popped up, though. Phantom Hellcat works with both 2D and 3D gameplay, both in its gameplay and the visuals. As the whole game is taking place as though everything was onstage and theater props were being used, and this meant getting creating creative with certain parts, like how a tower in the distance could be represented via a flat cardboard cutout, but becomes a larger 3D model that appears as you traverse closer to it and the game’s world is literally built around you like literal clockwork. And when I mentioned that it sounded just likePuppeteer– one of the most grossly overlooked platformers and PlayStation games ever – Alex did indeed confirm that it was indeed a game they were referencing. In that exactly moment, this had become one of my most-wanted upcoming games.
There were a lot of other interesting details as well, though, especially those tying into the theater theme even further, like having the lights go down when facing off against a more powerful enemy, or using additional props as weapons. Not to mention that part of the origins lie in the Poland-based team wanting to make an action-adventure game, a generally typically not represented in many Polish indie titles, which is a rather admirable goal. Phantom Hellcat is shaping up to one impressive and ambitious action title with exciting gameplay, style and a cool lead character and story, and we can’t wait to see more of it between now and its eventual release date in the future.
