Castle in the Darkness trailer makes the case for wailing guitars, giant owl bosses

What next for 1001 Spikes developers Nicalis? 100...2 Spikes? Tom: please don't give them any ideas. Nope: next on the agenda is Castle in the Darkness , a platforming Metroidvaniay RPG thingy, and one with a trailer reminiscent of that of a Falcom game. By which I mean: wailing '80s guitars. Castlevania, Mega Man, Zelda, Kirby, and Falcom's Ys games have all been mentioned as inspirations, and I'd say they've been represented pretty well.

Given that it's just been announced, you might be expecting Castle in the Darkness not to release for a good long while, but it's going to be coming to Steam this Summer. Nicalis' Matt Kap—he's worked on 1001 Spikes, and is doing the scrumptious pixel art for The Binding of Isaac Rebirth—has been working on CitD for the last two years. This game is described as a "fast-paced adventure platformer", featuring a levelling system, an equip menu, an "expansive world" with a ton of secrets, and "over 50 bosses", including that big friendly owl at the end of the video. Chris Packham is going to be apoplectic.

Thanks, Joystiq .

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.