“‘Twas a normal day on planet Eartho when a young boy and his poochingus snuck from their mammy and decided to frolick in the nearby woods. Alas, what they found would change their lives forever.”
Such is the setting of the upcoming sure-to-be-masterpiece, Bowlbo: The Quest for Bing Bing. If you’re active in the gaming Let’s Play community, you might be familiar with Oney Plays. Lead by Chris “Oney” O’Neill, the experienced animator and professional funnyman brings his friends onto the show for general goofs.
But playing games can only be fun for so long. Sometimes, you’ve just got to make your own. At least, that’s what Oney decided, giving birth to his game studio OneyWare and the development of their debut game, Bowlbo.
It’s been somewhat silent in the months since the announcement of the game back about a year ago, with some Twitter updates but slow progress overall. But Oney and company have decided to come out with a new trailer to showcase the gameplay of the upcoming title.
“Your canine companion, taked by a witch to a horrible place. . . what are ya gonna do about it?”
The trailer is incredibly short – of the 56 second runtime, only 15 seconds show the actual gameplay. The titular Bowlbo charges from left to right across a sidescrolling screen like any good hero does, running away from giant, beautifully animated probably-demons, sliding down a giant bone into a watery pit, and crossing through what seems to be the angriest leprechaun’s trailer property.
Even though we only have about 15 seconds of gameplay, there’s an incredible amount on show. The first thing that sticks out is the amazingly crafted backgrounds, as well as the huge variety between them. Bowlbo runs through a hilly countryside, a beachfront township, a fire-and-brimstone burning landscape, and several other charming locales. It helps to deliver the huge variety that we’ll be facing when we finally get to rescue Bing Bing for ourselves.
Bowlbo himself seems to be multitalented. We see him punching and T-posing like the hero he is as he journeys across the countryside. In a heart-warming moment, we see him visit his father’s grave before muttering, “Bye Da” and sliding backwards head-first down a hill. Truly a hero of the people.
There’s no sort of release date attached to the title yet. It’ll still likely be a good amount of time until we see it, but it’s fantastic to see from OneyWare that progress is still coming.
