The studio behind the best metroidvania of 2021 has a new game coming out next month—and I'm dropping everything to play it

It looks like a fairly orthodox 8-bit platformer on the surface, but Astalon: Tears of the Earth is among my favourite modern metroidvanias. Its class-based combat and exploration is thoroughly engrossing, the depth of its secrets astonishing, and most importantly, it’s a sumptuous feast for pixel art enthusiasts. If you like metroidvanias I’m begging you to play it. 2021 was a huge year for metroidvanias—think Axiom Verge 2, Ender Lilies—but this was better than all of them.

The creators of that underrated gem, LABS Works, has been working on Lovish ever since, which was originally meant to release this time last year. It’s not a metroidvania this time, but rather a single-screen platformer mixing simple Astalon-style combat with puzzles.