Promenade preview: A fantastic platformer with a Super Mario 64 flavour

It is inevitable that many of the releases we see today are inspired to a greater or lesser extent by the classics of yesteryear. It happens from the AAA titles to the more modest indies. But it's the right balance of what you want to take from the past and how you iterate on it that makes a current game of that kind shine. And I got a chance to see a beautiful glimmer of that in Red Art Studios' Promenade.

Promenade is a 2D platform title in which we control the young Nemo, a character whose task is to repair the big lift that has broken down and whose pieces are now scattered around the world. Accompanied by his little octopus companion with whom we interact to solve obstacles, we will have to collect pieces with which to open paths and rise level after level until we reach the top with the Great Elevator. But the world is very much alive, and both the objects and their inhabitants require a certain amount of skill and cunning to overcome the puzzles in order to get each piece.

I know I used big words in the headline of this preview, but the premise of Promenade is quite similar to the concept of the first three-dimensional Mario title on Nintendo 64, although here it's adapted to a 2D side-scroller. In Promenade we encounter hundreds of carefully arranged mechanical pieces both as small tasks and as you explore the map (although there are far more than are needed to complete the adventure, as in Super Mario 64), and I liked the detail that each of these tasks had a specific name within each level, reminiscent of the star-granting missions. In fact, there are some direct homages to Mario, such as a race against the clock against a rather grumpy penguin.

By completing each of the tasks and obtaining at least three pieces or gears to repair the ascent we advance in level, but the aesthetics also give us a clue that the narrative has a deeper feel to it than it appears at first glance. Everything seems to indicate that we're inside Nemo's mind, and that he's suffering from some kind of trauma that only by going through these areas can we help him cope with, but I'll be able to confirm these assumptions when the game comes out next year.

The level design seems to be another bright spot, and it takes some getting used to Nemo's unique jumping mechanics to get around the colourful world, which is also very much inspired by more contemporary animation such as Adventure Time. And challenging too. In my brief trial period with the game it made me curse more than once for not performing a jump correctly or for getting stuck and not being able to complete the penguin run. And it wasn't because of technical errors, it's just that the game looks nice, but it's challenging.

It's hard to convey so much enthusiasm for a title that's still a long way off in the release schedule (although it's supposed to be available on both PC and consoles in February 2024, if all goes well), but I think Promenade could be one of those little gems that deserves to reach the general public and be enjoyed by everyone. It was one of my favourite indies at Gamescom, and I'm looking forward to its release in a few months.