As soon as upon a time, legendary recreation director Warren Spector requested Disney to assist him make a science fiction recreation. The home of mouse wasn’t concerned about his pitch, nevertheless it gave him the keys to the forgotten magic kingdom as a substitute. Spector’s Junction Level Studios was given unfettered entry to archival supplies and tasked with spinning a story specializing in Walt Disney’s earliest work.
Epic Mickey was admirable as an try and carry these formative IPs again into the general public curiosity. Oswald the Rabbit appeared in his first authentic story since 1928. His misplaced panorama of unused concepts was an inventive triumph for Spector’s staff.
The sport debuted to usually optimistic crucial reception however did not make the monetary impression Disney anticipated. After a weaker and even much less profitable sequel, Junction Level was closed and the world of Epic Mickey did not dwell fortunately ever after.
Now it is again, in an on-brand Disney reboot dubbed Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. Purple Lamp Video games hasn’t simply given this title a texture polish, it is introduced sufficient mechanical and aesthetic additions to qualify it as a semi-remake. 15 years after its authentic launch, Mickey and Oswald’s story stays a captivating and flawed journey.
From the outset, the story nearly frames the titular mouse as a villain. Whereas Yen Sid is busy engaged on a mannequin to commemorate the forgotten members of previous fables, his magic mirror decides to open up a portal into Mickey’s bed room. The pre-fame mouse proceeds to invade, trigger chaos, and unleash a monster referred to as The Blot. Pondering nothing of his catastrophic clumsiness, Mickey returns dwelling to a flourishing profession as a model icon. A lot time passes, however ultimately the Blot returns and pulls him right into a world referred to as The Wasteland. Mickey should use Yen Sid’s magic paintbrush to restore this kingdom, defeat The Blot, and work out why Oswald, ruler of Wasteland, hates him a lot.
This can be a 3D collectathon platformer at coronary heart, however Mickey additionally wields surroundings manipulation talents that contribute to some mild puzzling. His magic brush can paint objects into the world round him, whereas his thinner can take away those self same objects. Not every part may be created/erased, however the perform of this skill is persistent all through.
As he transitions between areas of the Wasteland, Mickey leaps into projector screens displaying his previous motion pictures. These 2D sections are the sport’s spotlight, lovingly recreated variations of iconic shorts. Working round in classics like Steamboat Willy, Mickey’s Mechanical Man, and Alpine Climbers looks like a precursor to Studio MDHR’s Cuphead.
Again within the three-dimensional Wasteland, Mickey’s brush additionally serves as a weapon. It is helpful for smacking Blot’s military into submission and flipping switches all through the world. His artwork expertise work on enemies too. Thinner is the one factor that may defeat them, and paint can hypnotise them into combating by your aspect. Portray lacking points of the world additionally provides to a guardian meter. As soon as stuffed, you’ll be joined by little sprites which have totally different results on enemies as soon as deployed.
There is a first rate quantity of variation to Blot’s military, although assault patterns and strategies to defeat them do not change. Some bigger monsters want a combo of thinner and assaults to down. Later within the recreation, you may encounter Slobbers, which require some sneaking to keep away from waking them up (full with little orchestral squeaks from Mickey’s toes). Aside from that, enemies grow to be a repetitive chore to take care of from mid-game onwards.
The fight is not the one repetitive facet of Epic Mickey. Basic exploration and puzzling boils right down to the identical paint/skinny actions all through your time in Wasteland. Erasing partitions to search out goodies will get tedious after some time, irrespective of how fairly the collectible idea artwork is.
There is a good freedom of alternative supplied by rescuing Gremlins (no, not that sort) scattered round ranges. These little mechanics will remedy puzzles for you immediately if you happen to exit of your method to discover them. This flexibility extends to longer chain quests within the semi-open world, which might typically be fast-tracked by buying key gadgets from outlets. These shortcuts serve to partially steadiness out the quantity of fetch quests in your method to the following predominant story degree.
So what concerning the recent coat of paint this Rebrushed version affords? Essentially the most shocking additions listed here are the improved traversal talents for Mickey. The unique recreation was made painfully sluggish by having a locked strolling velocity. That is now gone and Mickey can dash (properly, jog) in addition to sprint in each 3D and 2D areas. The side-scrolling ranges themselves have been a lot expanded on, handled extra like standalone levels with secrets and techniques to uncover. In fight, a floor pound has been added, which helps scatter massive teams of enemies and smash clusters of breakable objects to get the goodies inside.
Away from the gameplay tweaks, the visible improve is nothing wanting magical. The work of the design staff is just about the primary promoting level of Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, and at 4K and 60 frames-per-second, its efforts shine. There is a darker edge to this depiction of Disney’s creations that got here off as murky within the authentic launch. Right here, even the grim detritus of Mickeyjunk Mountain, feels vibrant.
Again in 2010, Epic Mickey felt like a singular, fantastically designed spin on the standard platformer. In 2024, Rebrushed presents that very same gratifying, IP-driven expertise, alongside significant gameplay tweaks and a beautiful visible improve. Its normal lack of selection implies that it will not problem the likes of Astro Bot, however Disney and platformer followers alike ought to give this a glance.
Conclusion
Epic Mickey remains to be an gratifying platformer with impeccable inventive expertise driving it. The repetitive fight and exploration stays, however the Rebrushed updates go some method to remedying these shortcomings.
