City of None, recently showcased as an upcoming Switch 2 indie to keep an eye out for, has jumped to the top of my most-anticipated list. The game looks great, with a decidedly Animal Well-esque aesthetic and a distinct tone, but it’s the pedigree and experience of its creators that has me truly excited about it.
Extremely OK Games is responsible for some of the best indie games of the last decade, namely Towerfall and Celeste, the latter of which is probably my favorite 2D platformer of all time. Both of these titles succeed through their deceptively simple mechanics, integrating basic ideas like an air dash or wrap-around level design in interesting ways. For instance, Celeste revolves entirely around an air dash that resets when the player hits the ground. Air dashing is a staple of the platforming genre, but by building an entire movement system around it, Celeste is able to incorporate this fundamental mechanic in a more rewarding and creative manner. Put plainly, Extremely OK Games is a one-of-a-kind studio, and now that it’s entering the metroidvania space with City of None, competitors should be on guard.
City of None Looks Like a Beautiful, Haunting Metroidvania Adventure
Not much has been revealed about City of None just yet, but its gameplay trailer and Extremely OK Games’ description alone paint an enticing picture. Set in some kind of dank “metropolis,” City of None follows an enigmatic protagonist as they try to wrest control of the city back from a group known as the Barons. From City of None‘s official website:
“A metropolis crumbles into ruin as powerful barons satisfy their greed upon souls lost in time. You are but one spirit, with a wooden body left to rot in the wild…”
Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.
Sign in to claim your place on
the leaderboard!
City of None is explored in typical metroidvania fashion, with players gaining access to new locations via unlocked abilities. One especially interesting-looking ability is one that seems to turn the player-character into a floating ball—very reminiscent of Celeste‘s feather power-up. The game also features a train-based fast-travel system, which reminds me quite a bit of Hollow Knight‘s region-based transportation. All in all, City of None appears to be getting the metroidvania fundamentals down-pat, and I’m certainly excited to learn more.
Worth noting is that main developer credits for City of None go specifically to “Noel & Liam Berry,” with Extremely OK Games only publishing the game. That said, Noel Berry was part of the very small development team for Celeste, alongside its spin-offs Celeste Classic and Celeste 64.
The metroidvania space, much like the roguelike one, has become something of a bastion for indie developers. There are a few explanations for this, but perhaps the most applicable one is that, relatively speaking, metroidvanias are often cheaper to develop: traditional metroidvanias tend to be in 2D, lack cinematic cutscenes, and omit voice acting, for the most part. This is to say that metroidvanias, like roguelikes, have been a bit too heavily saturated, as it feels like every other indie dev is trying to make their own “Hollow Knight killer.”
Rather than making me wary of City of None, this genre saturation actually makes me more intrigued. Celeste is one of the best-feeling games I’ve ever played, and I’ve often sought its tasteful mechanical simplicity in other titles, but to no avail. If one of the original creators of Celeste is directing another feature-length video game, it’s automatically going to be on my radar; this is doubly so if we’re talking about a game in a different genre. In other words, I think that Noel Berry and Extremely OK Games have a terrific track record, and that applying this to the metroidvania genre could result in a shake-up that the genre arguably needs.
City of None Has Some Massive Shoes to Fill
I realize that I’ve hyped up Extremely OK Games and, by extension, City of None, but such hype is well-deserved. Celeste isn’t just one of my favorite games, but one of the most highly reviewed and cherished video games ever made. At the time of writing, it’s sitting at a dizzying 97% Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, with well over 62,000 English-language reviews. It’s the same story with critics: Celeste is one of the highest-rated titles on OpenCritic, with an average critic score of 92/100.
Celeste‘s gameplay gets a lot of praise, rightly so, but its narrative can’t be overlooked either. Despite high-intensity platforming, Celeste‘s story is actually a very personal and introspective one, which has come to symbolize its developer’s own struggles with gender identity and anxiety. In many ways, this is the greatest sign of Extremely OK Games’ evolution from Towerfall. Hopefully, City of None will be able to further grow along this vector, providing an experience that is as narratively deep as it is mechanically compelling.
- Released
-
2027
- Developer(s)
-
Noel Berry, Liam Berry, Extremely OK Games
- Publisher(s)
-
Extremely OK Games
- Number of Players
-
Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
-
Unknown
