Indie developer Naps Team announced that Baldo is their latest project that they’re currently working on for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and on PC. The game is an isometric, action-oriented adventure title featuring dynamic combat, puzzle-solving, boss fights, and an enchanting and diverse collection of environments to explore at scale.
The game was introduced to the gaming community with quite aplomb. The announcement trailer is a visually captivating collage of both cinematics and in-game play.
It has all the stylings and charm of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, but with the sort of heavy focus on multi-layered puzzles like Runic Games’ Hob.
You can check out the introduction trailer for Baldo below.
So we see that you’ll be winding winches and turning gears to open up access to new pathways. You’ll have access to swords and shields as you do battle against monstrous foes, and you’ll even be able to enjoy some festive moments of respite as the protagonist picks up a horn and blows a mean tune with a dancing frog.
There’s a mixture of exploration, stealth, combat, puzzle-solving, and adventuring all rolled into one big ball of colorful entertainment.
Some gaming outlets have described it as Ni No Kuni meets Legend of Zelda. I can definitely see that being the case given that the cel-shading is very vibrant and filled with the sort of tonal enthusiasm to really make the palette pop in just about every scene. There’s no denying that Baldo is a flat-out gorgeous looking game.
Mechanically it looks very similar to Cornfox & Bros’ Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas, which came out back in 2013 for home consoles and PC.
There’s currently no release date set for Baldo, but once a publisher nabs the game I’m pretty sure we’ll get a pretty clear release window for home consoles and PC.