Hi everyone! We are thrilled to debut the latest trailer for Smelter and announce it’s coming to PlayStation 4 on April 22. Smelter is a throwback to 16-bit classics such as Actraiser and Mega Man combining 2D real-time strategy with explosive side-scrolling action stages.
In Smelter, players take the role of Eve, who embarks on a journey to find Adam and meets a mysterious being who goes by the name “Smelter.” After some quick convincing, Eve fuses with Smelter, gaining incredible power, and agrees to help Smelter expand his empire in a joint effort to discover Adam’s whereabouts and take back what’s theirs. The game unfolds in a rotation between strategy and action stages, punctuated by cinematic sequences, all wrapped up in a wacky narrative.
Lead Smelter and his faithful army of Zirm forces in a top-down strategy conquest
Players take control of Smelter in a top-down strategic conquest as he and his Zirm forces attempt to expand his empire by completing quests and taking on an onslaught of enemies determined to stop him. In overhead map stages, players control Smelter, who can fly, shoot, and destroy enemies and obstacles. Smelter can also command his obedient troops to expand territory, build structures, and unleash attack units against enemy monsters in various regions. Gameplay is designed with shooting and command-driven interfaces, adding modern-day tutorials to assist both veteran gamers and those new to the genre.
Dive into thrilling action-platformer stages
Reaching deeper into the Rumbly Lands, once the player has completed certain NPC-driven quests and fortified key locations on the map, players will access new and exciting action-platformer stages where they control Eve infused with Smelter on foot and take on the bad guys. Perform an array of melee attacks, jumps, dashes, wall grabs, Smelter special attacks, and maneuvers to complete the stages and progress the story. Stages contain secret Trial stages where the players are rewarded by completing short levels within given conditions, such as Time Trial, Don’t Get Hit, Don’t Be Seen and more.
Smelt up the elements
One of the key modern-day features of Smelter is the elemental skill tree system that grants Eve and Smelter special abilities on land and air. Perform punching combos and rock shield counters with Gurabi’s earth and gravity-based skills, launch shock-infused spinning jump attacks with Eremagu’s electrified abilities, and fire long-range shooting attacks with the unstable yet deadly Nutoro elemental skill set. By unlocking new abilities, players can reach new areas and tackle stages with different approaches!
Capturing the 16-bit feel — Smelter as a team in Osaka, Japan
Brian Otten, one of the core developers at X Plus games in Osaka, Japan shared his thoughts on developing their passion project as a team of internationals.
“Smelter is our debut title since coming together as a team in 2018 and it is our take on a combination we haven’t seen much in recent years: a top-down strategy, action-platformer in a 16-bit style,” Otten says.
“When planning Smelter, we made it a priority to give our own spin on the top-down strategy and action-platformer genres, we were definitely inspired by classics like Actraiser and the Mega Man series simply because those were the games many of us loved to play and still love to play,” Otten says. “And while that might explain some of the inspirations for the game design choices, we feel Smelter has ultimately become a combination of our team’s personalities and what each of us enjoy to read, listen to, play and watch.”
To that end, Smelter features hand-drawn pixel art reminiscent of the 16-bit era, a rockin’ soundtrack by Evader, and main themes by Mega Man composer, Manami Matsumae, an Osaka native, along with a modern day interface.
“The majority of us were (and still are) foreigners living in Osaka,” Otten says. “The game development community in Japan can tend to be a fairly connected one, especially amongst expats, which makes it a great place to find those with similar goals. We were all looking for something new and eventually found ourselves together at X Plus, which has a long history with collectible figurines, and they were willing to give us a chance to pursue something we wanted to do. We are excited to share this project with gamers all over the world.”
Check out Smelter on PS4 April 22.
