You’ll control a 2D handheld game and a character in a 3D world at the same time.
I don’t think there’s any game I’m looking forward to as much as Screenbound. Ever since I first learned about this platformer a few years back, it’s been at the top of my must-play list. And now I know just when I’ll be able to get my hands on this one. It was revealed during the latest Day of the Devs showcase that Screenbound will arrive on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox for PC on September 10. Best of all, there’s a demo for us to jump into right now on Steam.
The gist of Screenbound (which is from Crescent Moon Games, Radical Forge and publisher Digital Pajamas) is that you find a Qboy — a Game Boy-like device — in your mother’s garage. After you switch it on, reality tears apart. You’re suddenly in another dimension, but you still have the handheld. You’re now controlling a 2D game on the Qboy and yourself in a 3D world at the same time, making it a “5D platformer.”
Elements like objects, obstacles, enemies and platforms will sometimes be visible on one plane and not the other, so you’ll need to keep an eye on both. It’ll likely put your peripheral vision to the test (I might be in trouble there). There are puzzles to solve too as you try to help your character find her missing mother.
The first cartridge you play through on the Qboy is a side-scrolling platformer. The second one, as revealed during Day of the Devs, is a 2D Zelda-style adventure game. We’ll find out more about that over the next few months. I imagine I’m going to playing that demo a whole lot in the meantime.
