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Dev interview - Metal and mayhem in 2D platformer Valfaris

There's a story to follow in Valfaris, but the game's producer let us know at GDC 2019 that even that takes a backseat to the high-quality action gameplay.

Charles Singletary Jr

March 20, 2019 3:55 PM

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You look like you could use a little metal in your 2D action-platformer. If we've hit the mark, we came across the perfect game for you while at GDC 2019: Valfaris.

Valfaris is a metal-infused platformer form the team behind Slain: Back From Hell, a Unity Awards finalist. We got an opportunity to speak with Jakobsen Locke, a producer with Digital Uppercut, which is the company publishing Steel Mantis' Valfaris.

The game is a space odyssey set across hand-crafted levels using eye-popping pixel art, facing off against various creatures as you shoot your way back to your homeworld. Locke says the aim was to keep it tight, making the player keep moving throughout the experience. Even the game's story explicitly takes a backseat  as the team focuses on a polished and fast gameplay experience. Check out the full video interview with Locke down below and be sure to check out our other bits of GDC 2019 goodness.

Valfaris will launch on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One sometime later this year. Taken from the official Valfaris Steam page, here's a peek and what to expect in this rocking title:

• Skulls in space! Gore in space! Metal in space!
• Savagely reduce foes to piles of gibs with an array of brutal weaponry
• Explore a diverse range of tainted environments as you venture ever deeper into the dark world of Valfaris
• Dominate ranks of deadly enemies and bosses, from the weird to the grotesque (and some that are just grotesquely weird)
• Gorge your eyes on devastatingly awesome pixel art hand-crafted by Andrew Gilmour
• Feel the power of a seismic soundtrack by extreme metaller and former Celtic Frost guitarist, Curt Victor Bryant
• Forged from the ground-up by the team behind cult hit Slain: Back From Hell

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Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.