That trailer’s misleading. It shows Master Painter casting his little apprentice into an abyss for wanting to do better but as it turns out from the introductory cutscene, that’s not entirely true.
Finding his teacher’s paintings unattended and devoid of color after a regular grocery run, the apprentice attempts a repaint, fails, and is hurled into the artwork since he’s so keen on meddling. Fair enough.
Landing on his feet he finds himself in control of an abnormally sized brush and the usual assortment of game-play mechanics characteristic of a 2D platformer. Swinging the brush in either direction brings color to the world, there being seven such worlds in all corresponding to distinct periods of art history each.
Pop art too.
Each world naturally contains multiple levels that must be beat in classic point A to point B fashion. Your enemies are misplaced blobs of paint, that The Painter’s Apprentice states must be erased by mastering the colors on your giant brush.
That’s basically fancy lingo for the fact that specifically colored enemies may only be wiped out by a specifically colored paint; the apprentice may switch between various colors on his brush at will.
Over time he learns that the brush come imbued with special attacks, courtesy of letters and other secrets left within the paintings by his Master. Of course secrets are not easy to come by, as the game compels you to color the world via swings of the brush to unveil these.
Doing so further reveals a larger fantasy narrative at play, revealed in due course by regular correspondences between guru and disciple. As the environmental challenges and level bosses gradually progress in difficulty, one might also find themselves competing for gold stars or art-based encyclopedia entries that serve as educative tools.
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The Painter’s Apprentice has been available on Steam as of the 31st of May. The official website also mentions a pending PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release.
