Microids, Dargaud and Pendulo Studios announced that Blacksad: Under the Skin is set to arrive on September 26th, 2019 later this year for the Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The studios released a new trailer for their detective noir game set in an alternate reality of 1950s where all the characters are anthropomorphic animals, making it a degenerate furry’s wet dream come true.

The trailer for Blacksad is actually really interesting. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the video game based on the comic book, but it the visuals have a really nice clean look to them. It doesn’t attempt to imitate the comics, but instead it channels a more furbished look like a colorized 1940s detective flick.

I think in some ways it takes the general visual aesthetic of the comic book but gives it its own identity through the stylized, clean-shading of 3D rendering. You can check out the trailer below for Blacksad: Under The Skin courtesy of Gameost.

Thematically I can’t help but to draw parallels to The Big Bang starring Antonio Banderas and Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us. The plot is definitely similar to the former but the presentation reminds me of the latter.

The general gist of the story is that Blacksad is hired to find a missing boxer before his big fight that night. This sends the private investigator on a wild goose chase for the prize fighter in order to collect his cash, but things don’t quite turn out the way he expected, and violence, double-crosses, and shady deals get tossed around like wagers in a backalley game of dice.

There’s an obvious stylized approach to the storytelling where you don’t really know what’s going on until it smacks you across the face like a brick in a purse swung from a man in a dress. However, I have to say that the trailer did leave me intrigued.

Now I can’t speak to their current development philosophy but years ago Pendulo Studios was not at all afraid to step over the line into the realm of political incorrectness. Their Runaway series is rife with all sorts of fan-service that’s considered verboten in today’s Western development sphere. Whether or not they’ll maintain that edgy take on the Blacksad property remains to be seen, but at least the game, the story, the characters, and the world-building look like they’re on point in Blacksad: Under The Skin.

You can look for the anthropomorphic detective noir tale to drop on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and for the Nintendo Switch starting September 26th. Also, keep in mind that the trailer doesn’t show Steam in the icon list, so it’s very possible that this could be an Epic Games Store exclusive.