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Following the genre-mashing success of Inscryption, indie developer Daniel Mullins is going back to the game that put him on the map.
While Inscryption beautifully blended deck-building, horror, roguelike, and puzzle elements, the developer’s knack for metafictional experiments actually began with 2016’s Pony Island. And now, the game is getting an incredibly surprising sequel. Announced at The Game Awards 2023, Pony Island 2: Panda Circus is another weird and creepy romp through a seemingly possessed arcade cabinet - and it’s due to launch between 2024 and 2026, according to the glitched release year in the debut trailer.
The original Pony Island sees you stumble upon the titular arcade cabinet, only to find that it’s been hijacked by the literal devil. The game then fluctuates between the actual Pony Island, an old-school side-scrolling shoot ‘em up, and some light puzzle-programming as you try to escape Lucifer’s clutches from inside the game.
There’s no sign of the devil in the sequel - thank the heavens - but the setup looks similarly haunted. Our protagonist boats up to a clearly ominous arcade cabinet, plays a moody-looking game about pandas, and then gets harassed by real-world YouTuber SungWon “ProZD” Cho - who’s playing a character called King Yan here. We see glimpses of the endless runner sections from the original, as well as programming logic puzzles that have you mess with the hostile interface - on top of frames that are so jumbled, they’re almost indescribable. Perfect.
“Pony Island 2: Panda Circus is a phantasmagorical voyage through time, myth, divinity, and video games,” the game’s Steam page kinda explains. “Escape the lordly deities of the underworld with your soul, and your sanity, intact. This is not a game about ponies.” All in all, that’s close to what you’d expect from Mullins, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
For more unexpected surprises, check out the upcoming indie games of 2024 and beyond.
