During the preshow for tonight’s Game Awards, indie mega-publisher Annapurna Interactive pulled back the curtain on the next big game in its portfolio. It’s a turn-based RPG called Thirsty Suitors, made by the folks behind Falcon Age. There’s some sweet-looking skateboarding. And it all smacks of serious Scott Pilgrim vibes throughout. Have a look:
Thirsty Suitors is the latest from Outerloop, which made a name for itself a few years back with the adventure game Falcon Age. Thirsty Suitors will feature an erratic mix of various gameplay elements, including action-based cooking segments, skateboarding that seems straight out of Tony Hawk or Jet Set Radio, and turn-based combat featuring a moveset that can only be described as “umm…what?” (Curling an entire barbell? With one hand? That dude’s probably a tough boss fight…)
Here’s the game’s narrative logline, from a press release provided by Annapurna:
Thirsty Suitors follows Jala as she returns home for her sister’s wedding and has to face everything she ran away from: her brutal breakup with her childhood best friend, her immigrant parents’ expectations, claustrophobic small-town gossip, the string of messily broken hearts she left behind and her interfering grandmother, who has begun to send suitors to her home in the hopes of finding a match.
Per the trailer, Jala’s ex-partners all teamed up to form a league of exes, a la the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. If you’ll recall, that oddball comedy saw Michael Cera’s Scott embark on a mission to defeat all seven exes of Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Ramona in order to get the green light for the two of them to, like, kiss on the lips or whatever.
Annapurna has had one hell of a year. The publisher started 2021 off with Maquette, a brain-bender of a recursive puzzle game that also tugged on the ol’ heart strings, in the spring. July saw the release of Last Stop, an intertwined-narrative adventure game set in a sci-fi reimagination of the greater London Suburbs (which, bonus, had a focus on public transit). That was followed by a massive expansion for the critically beloved Outer Wilds. Just last week, the publisher released the latest from Hyper Light Drifter devs Heart Machine, a 3D platformer called Solar Ash. Reviewers largely praised it. Though I found some sections frustrating, there’s undeniably a whole lot to like, from the stunning visuals to the Sonic-inspired sense of speed throughout.
There’s more on the horizon. In 2022 and beyond, Annapurna will release a slew of fascinating-looking games, including the speedrunning shooter Neon White, the interactive poem A Memoir Blue, and, of course, the stray cat game. From this initial look, add Thirsty Suitors to the pile. It’s due…OK, yeah, no release window yet.
Leave a Reply