Renaine [hands-on preview]

Renaine is a mashup of several influences, but manages to stand on its own

Tucked away in the Limited Run Games booth at PAX East is what looks like an 8-bit era game running on a bright HD screen. Bold pixels, high contrast, bleeps and bloops — the only thing missing was an NES controller. LRG are known for publishing nostalgia, so this feels right. But upon closer inspection, some major details pop in that set the game apart.

Renaine is a passion project from developer squuuidly of Octosoft games. In development for more than half a decade, the game is described as if Super Mario World & Street Fighter Third Strike & Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door had a baby, with some Maple Story woven in for good measure. In fact playing the game reveals even more visible homages, but they all manage to somehow work together really well.

The PAX East demo is fast paced, focusing on learning the quick attack and combo system. It uses fighting game style mechanics, with different types of attacks depending on where we’re facing and how we’re approaching enemies. Uppercut swipes and down thrusts are common moves, and necessary, because enemies do come from all angles. I quickly learn the combo and movement system, and then am thrown into a mini-adventure through a forest and caves and a town, swiping at enemies and gaining coins. The platforming feels solid and precise, and the characters and enemies are a good size on screen, so I don’t feel like I’m being overrun or pushed to do things I’m not ready for.

Defeating enemies gets us money, which we can use at shops located around the world. I buy bombs, because why not, and learn not to stand too close. Some of the weapons can damage our heroine so knowing how to use them is as important as knowing when to use them. As I get further through the demo level, and feel like I’m getting more comfortable with the mechanics of the game, I’m ultimately thrown into a multi-layered boss battle. The fight switches back and forth between avoidance (moving out of the way as the boss crashes into a spike-filled pit) and attacking tentacles with targets on them. It never feels overwhelming, but just when I think I got it under wraps I make a mistake and take damage on a pitfall… and I end my demo in defeat.

But it’s a satisfying defeat, so it’s all good.

Visually, the game focuses on those retro graphics as a major design theme. Squuuidly explains that no two colors touch, and that there’s a two-color limit for all characters and objects. They want to not only stay true to the feel and era, but also to force themselves to be creative as they worked inside an aesthetic box. The game actually started as an MSX style experience, with far more simplified visuals and outlines, but the addition of artist Carrion really helped flush out what the game could (and should) be.

There’s no release date yet, but with all of the biggest changes behind them our fingers are crossed that Renaine‘s “COMING SOON” timing on Steam means soon enough.

~~ Renaine won a SideQuesting Team Choice Award at PAX East 2024 ~~