Hohokum, Doki-Doki Universe and CounterSpy headed to PSN
Sony went a bit mad with game announces today, revealing three new and unusual games for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Vita - including a new project from SCE Santa Monica's latest indie adoptee.
Let's start with Hohokum, which is coming to PS3, PS4 and Vita in 2014. As you might expect, its colourful glory isn't the product of the God of War team; the studio is now sheltering Frobisher Says developer Honeyslug, much as it once incubated thatgamecompany. The visuals come courtesy of a collaboration with artist Richard Hogg.
Described as "a whimsical colorful game with an emphasis on playful exploration and creativity", Hohukum casts you as a flying snake-looking thing. It deliberately avoids several gaming tropes like missions, failure, and challenge, and although it does offer secrets and trophies, it's a playground. Hohokum has being doing the rounds at festivals for a while and even made it to the IGFs in 2011, but has only recently found a platform to call home.
Next up is Doki-Doki Universe; "doki-doki" is a Japanese term meaning a heart beating fast in excitement. Also headed to all three Sony platforms, this one is the product of HumaNature Studios - and I hope you remember it, because it's the first new game in forever from Toejam and Earl creator Greg Johnson.
"Our somewhat lofty goal is to create new and original game experiences that reach out to people looking for more humanity in games. We love interactive stories, emotional expression and self-discovery, and are not so big on shooting things," Johnson said.
Doki-Doki Universe will release in stages., The first release is a free download where you can fly around and take personality quizzes. There'll also be a friend messaging system which can be accessed from mobile devices too, for cross-platform chat. Meanwhile, there will be premium DLC packs offering whole worlds to explore, with a game in the "RPG/Simulation/Interactive Story" genre, set in a "huge simulated living universe".
Players take on the role of a robot called Model QT377665, or QT3, which was abandoned on an asteroid 11,432 days ago. An alien arrives to announce that your model is being scrapped for not having enough humanity, but you can save yourself by proving you have plenty. You can fly around on a giant pig, poo, whale or a number of other things, which has basically sold me right there.
Finally, there's CounterSpy, which comes via a new indie called Dynamighty and is only coming to PlayStation Mobile, PS3 and Vita, not PS4. It's a side-scrolling action affair casting you as a member of C.O.U.N.T.E.R., playing both sides of the Cold War to halt an escalating international incident.
It seems to mostly involve combat in secret bases, and rightfully offers a variety of prototype weapons which can be unlocked by collecting blueprints. It was apparently inspired by classics like Flashback and Metroid.
Images of all three games are available below; click the links in their titles to learn more.