Hello and welcome to Somerville. Don’t worry about the, uh, extraterrestrial animals or abandoned cities. I’m confident we’ll have them sorted out by the time this dramatic adventure hits theatres in 2022.
Jumpship, the company founded by Playdead founder Dino Patti, is making its debut with Somerville. Somerville, who cut his teeth on previously tremendous vibes like Inside and Limbo, confirmed its existence with a brief tease that was, excuse my French, slick as fuck.
A new teaser, shown as part of tonight’s Xbox and Bethesda event, offered us our first decent look at Somerville—and if it isn’t bloody magnificent, I don’t know what is. Inside’s restricted palette flair pervades Somerville, an apocalyptic family car journey across a dark, yet often stunningly colorful environment.
Adding a larger cast to Playdead’s wordless adventures allows for further exploration of the format, and it’ll be fascinating to see where Patti deviates from his previous studio’s trial-and-error platforming now that you’ve got 5 bodies to defend. Nonetheless, Somerville appears to be very promising—and if anything happens to that pooch, I will be the first to pound down Jumpship’s doors.
Somerville will be accessible on Xbox Game Pass from the start and will be accessible on PC and Xbox platforms in 2022.
