Hilltop Studios has announced its point-and-click narrative puzzle game Little Guardsman coming to PC and consoles on January 23rd.
Launching on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, Little Guardsman is described as a “comic fantasy” game, inspired by games like Papers, please and the popular 2017 single-player adventure game Night in the forest.
Hilltop revealed more footage of the game, featuring beautiful visuals combined with a 2D art style and a fully voiced cast. You play as 12-year-old Lil, a substitute gatekeeper who must take over her wayward father’s job at the entrance to the Kingdom of the Sprawl.
As you encounter more than 100 “wacky and chaotic” characters, it’s up to you to deduce their intentions using dialogue and a host of tools at your disposal, giving you the power to decide whether to kill them or do not want to deny access.
One example in the trailer shows Lil using the ability to rewind after making the wrong decision, which leads to one character going to jail for being a little too dark. There’s also an X-ray feature that lets you examine NPCs and even draft or deny characters to help win the war.
When you’re not guarding the gate, it seems you can also explore the kingdom, with locations such as the harbour, strange alleys and a tavern full of knights and wizards.
“Of Little Guardsman we wanted to combine the deductive puzzle-solving and branching storyline Papers, please with the warmth and humor of Monkey Island And Grim Fandango” said Artiom Komarov, co-founder and co-gaming director of Hilltop in a statement.
“We have been challenging each other for two years to come up with scenarios, dialogues, visual jokes and to imagine the voice cast that makes up the film. Lil’ Guardsman world, we are so excited to finally share it with everyone on January 23rd!”
Pre-orders are available now and you can wishlist the game now on Steam, or check out the playable game demonstration.
For more information, check out our list of the best indie gamesalong with our list of the best PS5 games.