Gamescom 2020 brought gamers around the globe some sneak peeks at upcoming games and new DLC. Surprisingly, old-school-style platformers seemed to be on the menu, including the new Crash Bandicoot 4 that is coming to multiple consoles as well as a newcomer to the genre, called Pumpkin Jack.
Back in February of this year, gamers got their first taste of what Pumpkin Jack will look like with a demo. The cartoonish graphics coupled with the platforming and fighting style of this game felt like a heavy homage to MediEvil. It brought back the Halloween aesthetic coupled with the horror-themed hacking and slashing that made MediEvil what it was. And at this year’s Gamescom along with new Godfall gameplay and more Fall Guys content, players got to see even more of Jack’s action.
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Gamescom 2020 gave players a whole 8-minutes of gameplay for Pumpkin Jack. There appear to be a variety of power upgrades, unique boss battles, stages, NPCs to interact with, and even a long ride on a broken-down mine cart track for extra thrills. Everything is overlaid with spooky details like glowing-eyed crows and terrifying demons. While at first this game seemed like just another MediEvil remake, it seems to be now taking on a life of its own.
In the original demo, players got to see the story of the game. Uniquely, the main character is actually the bad guy, brought into the world by the Devil himself, who is bored of seeing humans live together so peacefully. Jack’s job is to kill the wizard that has thwarted the Devil’s plan to torment the humans with eternal night.
While many might think that the days of the old-school platformer was best with the NES, SNES, or the PS1, it looks like Pumpkin Jack is riding in to try to prove them wrong.
Pumpkin Jack is set to be released in Q4 2020 for PC and unspecified consoles.
MORE: MediEvil: 5 Ways The Remake Is Better Than The Original (& 5 Ways It’s Worse)