Bad Vices Games and Valkyrie Initiative recently announced that their dark-fantasy, Gothic hack-and-slash game called Hippocampus: Dark Fantasy Adventure, will launch on Steam starting February 20th.

The launch date comes on short notice of the game’s release, which makes question the quality of the outing. But then again maybe they decided to put their time and focus on the actual gameplay instead of marketing? If that’s the case then they certainly get a pass.

The story centers around Lord Moebius, who sets out on a journey to discover the disappearance of his dear love, Lorelei. However, in order to help aid him in his journey, Moebius consumes a dangerous hallucinogenic called the datura stramonium, which makes his memories quite vivid so that he can scour every detail to find out Lorelei’s whereabouts. However, the potion comes with a powerful price: for every drop of health he loses, so to does he lose his memory.

The gameplay is actually a lot more impressive than I thought it would be.

Yes, the game is obviously a budget-made hack-and-slash, but it looks like it combines some unique platforming elements with hack-and-slash, tactical gameplay and a flurry of unique weapons and air-juggling capabilities.

You can tell there’s also some obvious inspiration from the dodge-roll and timed-enemy attacks from Dark Souls. However, there’s also the infusion of the fast-paced combos, launch attacks, and flashy weapons from Devil May Cry that seems to add a nice bit of panache to the combat.

The one thing that stood out to me in the trailer were the segments where the character was moving through a tower that allowed him to defy gravity while lathe-camerawork followed his twisting and turning journey through the uniquely crafted levels.

Again, it’s obviously a budget-made title but Hippocampus doesn’t look like a bad game by a longshot.

We’ll find out what’s like when the game launches on February 20th on PC. You can wishlist or follow the game by visiting the Steam store page.